Private Doctors in Frantic Quest for Flu Vaccine
This sad and infuriating tale comes from the NYT.
Oncologist flies to Canada, desperately seeking flu vaccine for cancer patients with ravaged immune systems:
Dr. Rodney Sherman, an oncologist on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who has 350 chronically ill patients in need of protection against the flu, is giving up on the United States government.
After weeks of trying to get answers as to whether he is in line to get vaccine - and calm his patients' fears - he has decided to take matters into his own hands.
This morning, he is flying to Canada, hoping to buy vaccine, even though he does not know if any will be available.
"I am frantic," Dr. Sherman added. "This is bordering on insanity."
Dr. Svetlana Kogan, who runs a practice in Queens and treats 500 people who need the vaccine, agrees. She has no vaccine and cannot even get a shot for a patient who suffering from a deficient white blood cell count and is terribly at risk because of a ravaged immune system.
"There is a daily newsletter," she said, to alert doctors where the remaining vaccine is going. "But it doesn't make it easy for a private solo practice like this one because we are kind of out of the loop."
She said she was considering banding together with a group of other private doctors and going to Canada.
But there is no assurance Canada, our genial neighbor to the north, can meet the need.
Americans who travel to Canada for the vaccine are likely to find themselves competing for a small supply. Canada has no shortage of the vaccine because it did not rely on Chiron, the company whose vaccine was contaminated, but any excess supply would cover only a fraction of the United States shortfall.
In the provinces of Alberta and Ontario, pharmacists have been warned not to sell any of the public supply of the flu vaccine to non-Canadians. But pharmacies are free to sell additional flu shots they have bought privately from their own suppliers. The shots are being sold for $8 to $40.