Coimbatore runs out of H1N1 vaccines

COIMBATORE: Sanjana S, 28, who is five months pregnant, had a hard time trying to get herself vaccinated against the A(H1N1) flu virus so that she could keep herself and her baby safe. The Peelamedu resident went to two hospitals and a doctor in her locality before procuring the vaccine from a hospital on Mettupalayam Road. "All of them told me they did not have the vaccine," she said."It took me a few hours to find out that Women's Centre had a few doses of the vaccine and I bought one," she said.
The shortage of the vaccine is alarming since the number of cases is rising. One more person tested positive for H1N1 in the city on Tuesday, taking the number of confirmed cases to four since Sunday and 27 since January.
Vaccination is not being done by government hospitals and private hospitals said there is a severe shortage. "We are recommending that pregnant women take the vaccine because their immunity is lower, but we have to refer them to other hospitals because we have run out of stock," said gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Asha Rao of Rao Hospitals. "We asked our distributor for 150 units, they gave me 15," said Dr Rao.
Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital said it has run out of stock of the vaccine. "We only have the nasal spray. We sourced a few units of the injections with great difficulty if patients insist," said Ramesh, vice-president, marketing, KMCH.
The city has five to six vaccine and drug distributors from which all hospitals procure their medicines. A vaccine distributor who did not want to be named attributed the shortage to the H1N1 drug manufacturers underestimating the demand for the vaccine. "The A(H1N1) vaccine is manufactured only by multi-national pharmaceutical companies like Abbott, Novartis, Sanofi and Lupin," he said. "For the last three years, we did not sell even 300 vials of the vaccine. This year, we have already procured and sold more than 10,000 vials," said the distributor. "The companies have run out of the vaccine now."
The government has not procured the flu vaccinations. "The government is not providing it because the vaccine is not to be 100% reliable," said deputy director of public health Dr A Somasundaram. "It has been found to prevent the flu in only 75% of cases. Further, it protects only against two strains of the virus. The virus keeps mutating," he said.
Private hospitals charge around Rs 800 for the nasal drops and Rs 675 for the injection.