Influenza Shot-Gouging: With scarce supplies of flu shots, prices go up, way up.

2004 NOV 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Jack Bond's hospital pharmacy needed 2,800 flu shots, but his supplier couldn't provide them. Plenty of other distributors were ready to meet his needs, though, for a price: as much as $600 for a vial of 10 flu shots that normally costs around $80.

With no other choices, officials at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, thought about paying that price "as a last resort," said Bond, the hospital's pharmacy director.

Fortunately, other health providers in the area came to the rescue, sharing their supplies.

Around the country, health officials say some suppliers are trying to cash in on the flu shot shortage.

In Colorado, where hospitals have been offered vaccine for about $100 a shot, police were investigating the theft of 60 boxes of vaccine, enough for 620 children, from a suburban Denver medical office.

In south Florida, 1 hospital was told the price would be $140 a shot, according to vaccine maker Aventis Pasteur, currently the only company providing flu shots this year.

And those are prices for the hospitals. Typically, a consumer can pay as little as $20 for a flu shot, depending on the location.