Flu shot makers say orders for next season filling up fast.

2004 MAY 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Overwhelming demand for flu shots last season is causing this year's vaccine orders to fill up fast. So much so that there might not be as many extra doses left for sale during the upcoming season.

"We believe there may be less in-season doses available," said Philip Hosbach, vice president for new products and immunization policy for Aventis Pasteur, which provides half of the U.S. flu shot supply from its plant in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania "We encourage people who haven't ordered to do so quickly."

Even though the start of the next flu season is still half a year away, state health agencies and hospitals are already placing their orders because the vaccine takes months to manufacture. Production is somewhat limited and if vaccine makers receive many pre-orders, fewer shots will be available for sale during the season.

In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is wanting to create for the first time a massive flu shot stockpile to avert shortages like those experienced last winter. Toward this, the CDC is spending $80 million over the next 2 years to stockpile 4 million flu shot doses for children.

Vaccine makers say the stockpile will not take away from the nation's flu shot supply because the doses being set aside for the government will be manufactured in late July, after flu shot makers have filled vaccine orders and have created extra flu shots for in-season sale, said Len Lavenda, Aventis spokesman.

Flu shot makers estimate there will be a total of 83 million to 100 million doses available for the 2004-2005 flu season, the CDC has estimated. The number of flu shots made in any given year is determined by manufacturers, who base their production on recent demand for the shots.

"I can't over-emphasize that demand is going to drive supply," Hosbach said.