Flood of requests swamps flu vaccine manufacturer

After one frenzied day of pre-booking, one national vaccine provider has stopped accepting pre-booking orders for the 2006-07 flu season. This unprecedented level of demand could spell trouble for physicians as they prepare to take care of their patients' immunization needs.

Even before the start of manufacturing, Sanofi Pasteur, Inc. is no longer accepting pre-book requests for their Fluzone® vaccine after they received more than 40,000 phone calls in the first half-hour of accepting requests, according to a company press release. In that first full day, the company received more than 200,000 requests from customers in both the public and private sectors. Some of those unable to reserve vaccinations were placed on sanofi pasteur's waiting list, but no more additions will be made.

In January the Texas Department of State Health Services sent out a letter to providers urging them to place their orders early for next flu season. The letter contains contact and product information for the four large vaccine providers. The others, Chiron, GlaxoSmithKline and MedImmune, are expected to satisfy the vaccine needs of the rest of the country.

Resources:

To read sanofi pasteur's full press release, click here.

See the letter that DSHS sent to health care professionals here.