Cost of flu vaccine rising as supply dwindles.

2004 NOV 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some drug distributors are taking advantage of the country's dwindling flu vaccine supply by raising prices for the medicine to up to 10 times its normal cost.

Several distribution companies, which specialize in buying and selling drugs in short supply, have offered flu shots at inflated prices in faxes and e-mails to hospital pharmacists in Colorado.

Such price inflation is immoral, said Bruce Gellin, MD, director of the National Vaccine Program Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"We, too, have heard these stories about the price-gouging, and obviously that's a great concern to all of us," he said.

The shortage occurred when Chiron, 1 of 2 major flu-shot suppliers, was forced to close its British plant after regulators said it violated safe manufacturing practices.

That wiped out nearly half of the United State's supply.

Colorado's 2 largest hospital systems have said they do not have enough vaccine to cover all their employees. Two-thirds of the state's long-term care facilities are without vaccine, said Greg Gahm, a member of the Colorado Medical Directors Association.