Did Rhode Island Order Enough Dosages of Flu Vaccine This Year?
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
According to CDC guidance to avoid a potential public health emergency that overwhelms hospitals, everyone in Rhode Island older than 6 months need to get a flu shot this winter. The impact of a serious flu season coupled with the coronavirus could be the perfect public health storm.
Thus, Rhode Island needs approximately 1 million dosages.
Rhode Island health officials have ordered enough for about 65 percent of Rhode Islanders.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe flu impacts different age groups than the coronavirus. While both hit those over 60 hard, unlike the coronavirus, the flu can be hard on infants and young children.
Starting back in May, top American health experts led by Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the CDC, gave stark warnings about the potential impact of the flu and coronavirus hitting in the fall simultaneously.
“If we have a [flu] season like we had the year I became CDC director [2018] — almost 80,000 people died — it’s going to put a lot of stress independently by itself on our health system . . . and then you add on coronavirus and you can see the stress on the health system,” said Redfield.
In Rhode Island, Dr. Michael Fine, the former Rhode Island Director of Health, has been urging for months that Rhode Island has to increase its annual flu vaccination rate from less than 40% to more than 90%.
A paper published in Science in June warns, "Much of the population remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, and the stress on hospitals will be greatest if the COVID-19 and influenza epidemics overlap and peak around the same time. It is possible that the number of individuals infected with each virus will peak at different times, reducing the peak demand for hospital beds. If a surge in COVID-19 cases occurs this fall, tightening mitigation strategies will be necessary."
Does RI Have Enough Dosages?
According to Rhode Island health officials, Rhode Island has ordered enough.
“We can always acquire more flu vaccine during the flu season from manufacturers, if it’s needed. And the 680,000 doses are just the state-purchased doses. Private entities (for example, pharmacies) purchase very large quantities of vaccine on their own, and contribute to the state’s overall vaccination rate,” according to Joseph Wendelken of the Rhode Island Department of Health.
“The state is purchasing 424,600 doses at a cost of $9,365,743. We are getting roughly 250,000 doses from CDC, paid for by the federal government,” said Wendelken.
But, multiple factors are at play including the strain of the flu and when it hits.
Flu Variables Could Be Deadly
Some of the factors that can increase the impact of the flu is when and where it hits. In 2018, the flu hit nearly simultaneously across the country, overwhelming hospitals' emergency rooms.
As Vox reported in 2018, "There are four species of influenza viruses — A, B, C, and D — and seasonal flu is caused by influenza A and B. Every year, different strains of these viruses circulate. The reason this year’s flu season is more severe than usual is because it involves the dreaded H3N2, a strain of the influenza A virus that causes more health complications and is more difficult to prevent."
"H3N2 hits people harder than other seasonal flu strains and can be especially deadly among vulnerable groups like the elderly and children. Researchers still aren’t sure why, but they’ve found that a flu season involving the H3 virus is generally nastier — with more hospitalizations and flu-related deaths — than seasons involving mostly H1N1 or influenza B viruses," reported Vox.
According to CDC guidance released last week about this year's flu vaccine:
Specifically, for 2020-2021, trivalent (three-component) egg-based vaccines are recommended to contain:
A/Guangdong-Maonan/SWL1536/2019 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus (updated)
A/Hong Kong/2671/2019 (H3N2)-like virus (updated)
B/Washington/02/2019 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus (updated)
Quadrivalent (four-component) egg-based vaccines, which protect against a second lineage of B viruses, are recommended to contain:
the three recommended viruses above, plus B/Phuket/3073/2013-like (Yamagata lineage) virus.
Thus, the CDC is concerned about the return of the deadly H3N2 strain.
Timing of Flu Shots Are Critical
The CDC warns not to get the flu shot too early, "There is no change in CDC’s recommendation on timing of vaccination this flu season. Getting vaccinated in July or August is too early, especially for older people, because of the likelihood of reduced protection against flu infection later in the flu season. September and October are good times to get vaccinated. However, as long as flu viruses are circulating, vaccination should continue, even in January or later."
Fine says it is critical that Rhode Island launch a major public health initiative to urge Rhode Islanders to get vaccinated. "This is the year. We need to pull out the stops to ensure everyone gets a flu shot," said Fine
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