Flu shot shortage a shock to system.

Byline: Nicole Foy

Oct. 25--Dr. Fernando Guerra sat stunned in Washington during the National Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting, which had promised to be routine.

Moments after the session opened Oct. 5, Dr. Charles Helms, chairman of the 12-member national committee, delivered the news that would hit the nation's front pages the next day: The United States would receive only half its expected flu vaccine supply this year.

After hours of committee discussion on just how the nation should proceed, Guerra, director of San Antonio's Metropolitan Health District and a member of the high-ranking national vaccine panel, found the words to say what he was feeling.

"What many of you don't understand, from the national level you're at here, is how this plays out on the front lines of a community," he said.

"We've already started our (immunization) campaign," he said. "And now here I'm going to have to go back and say, 'I'm sorry, we don't have enough for you.'"

For Guerra and his colleagues, the near panic that has played out across the nation since the shortage was announced seems almost surreal. For decades,…