After reports last week of widespread flu activity on the mainland, demand for flu vaccinations in Hawaii has risen and the public may have some difficulty finding the vaccine, a state Department of Health official said.
That’s because demand has risen later in the flu season, when vaccine inventories may not be as plentiful as earlier in the season, state epidemiologist Sarah Park said.
"What people have to realize is there’s usually not a lot of demand for the vaccine at this time," she said in an interview Wednesday. "Clinics, pharmacies and health care providers are usually trying to finish off their inventories because they don’t want to be stuck with too much at a time when there’s not much demand.
"There is flu vaccine here; you’re just going to have to be a bit more persistent about looking for it."
The flu is widespread in all states but Hawaii and Tennessee and is starting to ease in some areas of the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Nine more children or teens have died of the flu, bringing the nation’s total this flu season to 29 as of Friday, the Associated Press reported.
In a typical season, about 100 children die of the flu, so it is not known whether this year will be better or worse than usual, AP said. So far, half of confirmed flu cases are in people 65 and older, the CDC reported.
Park said Hawaii tends to have higher rates of vaccination than many other states.
According to the CDC, last year Hawaii had the third-highest estimated vaccination rate among the states and the District of Columbia at 49.9 percent of all people 6 months and older. In 2010, Hawaii had the fourth-highest rate at 51.2 percent.
It’s difficult to estimate the amount of vaccine needed in any given flu season, which usually runs from October to May, Park said.
"It’s always a guessing game. How much do providers order so there’s enough for demand, but they’re not stuck with eating the cost later," she said. "Vaccine manufacturers also do that balancing act — how much do they produce for the season because they don’t want to eat the cost of leftovers."
Kaiser spokeswoman Laura Lott said the health care provider has seen an increase in people coming in for the vaccine since last week’s reports of widespread flu activity on the mainland and concerns Hawaii could see increased activity, too, but also said the vaccine is still available at most of its clinics.
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WHERE TO GET A FLU SHOT
The Hawaii Department of Health provides a list of pharmacies that administer flu shots. Go to flu.hawaii.gov and click on the “Vaccine Locator” link on the left side of the page.
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"The good news is that people are taking this seriously. They’re getting flu shots to protect themselves and their families," she said.
Through last week, Lott said Kaiser had administered nearly 65,000 doses of the vaccine this flu season. Now that’s up to nearly 70,000.
Kaiser said an order for 3,300 additional doses arrived Friday and have been distributed to clinics needing more inventory. Another order of 5,000 is expected to arrive Tuesday.
Sue-Ann Yasuoka, pharmacy operations manager for Times Supermarkets, said demand has been high recently but that Times continues to resupply its pharmacies with the vaccine.
"Pharmacies are doing a lot more shots now than before the media came out about the flu, and you have a lot of people getting the shot now that normally don’t," she said. "They say, ‘I don’t normally get it, but I saw it on the news.’"
A worker at the Times Aiea pharmacy said that location has the vaccine in stock, but that there is a waitlist due to high demand.
So far this flu season, Times has administered about 6,000 doses of the vaccine, about the norm for an entire flu season.
Mike DeAngelis, a spokesman for CVS Caremark, which owns Longs Drugs stores in Hawaii, said, "We are seeing high demand and that is impacting supply, so we’re moving it to where it’s most needed. We still do have vaccine, but supplies are tight and we are resupplying our pharmacies as needed as quickly as possible."
CVS Caremark has administered more than 4 million flu vaccinations in the U.S. this flu season, about double what it administered last season. Numbers specifically for Longs Drugs pharmacies in Hawaii weren’t available.
While it is good that people are more concerned about getting vaccinated, Yasuoka said some people who already got the vaccine at the start of this flu season last fall seem to be panicking and inadvertently getting a second dose. "It’s the same vaccine," she said. "There’s no need to get vaccinated again."
Those wanting a vaccine are urged to call their local clinic or pharmacy before going to get vaccinated to confirm that a specific location has the vaccine available.
