Ripple Effect of Flu Vaccine Shortage
COLLINS: With flu season right around the corner, flu vaccine is suddenly in short supply. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the CNN Center to tell us what it means for your annual flu shot. Now, this was pretty surprising this morning, Sanjay.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it is pretty surprising. You know, just last week, you and I were talking about the flu shot and encouraging people to go out and get it this year because there wasn't going to be a shortage like last year. But now two years in a row, there is going to be a shortage. This one coming because of one of the companies that makes the flu vaccine. There's two major companies that make it. One of them had some problems. They actually had some suspension of their production capabilities yesterday. The company is called Chiron. It's actually a California-based company, but their production facility is in Liverpool, England. And what they -- again, their production license is suspended. So, they are not going to be able to make as much vaccine as they thought they were going to be able to make. In fact, none of that is going to be able to get to the United States. Let's put some of these numbers in perspective, because a lot of people ask how many people get the flu vaccine, how many are needed. Take a look at the numbers. What they hoped to get this year was 100 million doses. Last season, they had 87 million doses. The number of doses lost because of this Chiron problem, about 46 to 48 million doses. That leaves us with a shortage, as you can see there, a pretty significant one at that. Point worth making, as well, is that the problems over at Chiron are not brand new. Earlier this summer, they had some suspected problems that there might be some contamination of the viruses. But officials here in this country at that time thought it would only affect maybe a few million doses. This 44 to 46 million number, really very striking. What the HHS people are saying right now is that those at the highest risk should go ahead and get vaccinated. Other people may have to wait, Heidi.</s>COLLINS: Let's talk about who is at the highest risk. We always hear about infants, and we hear about senior citizens. Can you give us a breakdown? I mean, who exactly are we talking about here?</s>GUPTA: Yeah, I mean, you are not going to be someone who is going to fall under the category of the highest risk, for example. I, on the other hand, might because I'm a doctor who takes care of patients. Take a look at the list here. When you talk about highest risk: children age six to 23 months -- that's a new guideline, incidentally, that young, people getting vaccinated, is a new guideline, but they are still recommending that; adults age 65 and older; anybody with chronic illness of any sort; pregnant women; and people who can spread flu to those at highest risk. Again, I fall into that category. As far as the children goes, a lot of people ask me: Are there going to be enough doses, especially for the very young? Tommy Thompson, HHS secretary, addressed that. This is what he has to say.</s>TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: Aventis is producing the pediatric vaccine, so the children -- the most vulnerable, those between six months and 23 months -- are going to be able to receive their share of the vaccine without any problems.</s>GUPTA: So, really, a few different options that they have now. One is that they can try to get some of the other companies in the country to try and produce more vaccine. They can encourage healthier people to try the FluMist, that's the nasal vaccine. Or they might try this final option, which is to actually get lower sort of doses of the vaccine. They're not quite as potent, but some studies have shown they work, as well. We're going to have to see how it pans out. But it's a problem this year again, Heidi, in terms of flu vaccine.</s>COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, look at those numbers you pulled up -- half the amount of vaccines from last year.</s>GUPTA: That's right.</s>COLLINS: All right. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for that.</s>GUPTA: Thank you.</s>COLLINS: Also talking this morning about what kind of market effects will result from the flu vaccine shortage. Andy Serwer, "Minding Your Business" on that. So, the company Chiron, stock is kind of just dropping.</s>ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Absolutely. Want to talk a little bit about Chiron, which is the company at the center of this controversy. A 23-year-old country from Emeryville, California. They make about 50 percent of the flu vaccine. The other 50 percent is made by a French company called Aventis. Yesterday, as you suggest, Heidi, the stock fell 16 percent. This about 25 percent of this company's sales just knocked off the table. About 1.8 billion is the total sales figure for this company. You know, people are asking me: Why is it that the flu vaccine is in the hands of a rather obscure biotech company in California, the other half from a French drug company? Why not in the hands of a Pfizer or Bristol-Myers, a big company? And the reason why is flu vaccines are not a very good business. It's sort of like a public service. They are not very profitable. You think about it. The patient takes it once, as opposed to say a Lipitor where you're taking it every day. There's potential litigation. It's very hard to make. So, you can see why the big drug companies have short of shied away from it, which leaves it in the hands of these other ones. And when you talk about the fact that there's not going to be enough flu vaccine out there, the impact on the economy could be considerable because of lost job time if people are sick. I mean, hundreds of thousands of people get the flu every year, so it could really be significant. We're starting to see the ripple effect in the economy already a little bit. CVS, the big drugstore chain, announcing last night that they were going to be canceling their flu vaccine clinics that they had at over 3,000 stores.</s>COLLINS: They would kind of have to.</s>SERWER: Yeah. I mean, they just don't have the vaccine. You were going to be able to go in there for $20 and get the vaccine, and they hope probably buy a lot of stuff on the way out the door. But they just don't have the medicine at this point.</s>COLLINS: All right. Andy Serwer, thanks so much for that.</s>SERWER: You're welcome.</s>COLLINS: Another side we didn't know about.</s>SERWER: Right.</s>COLLINS: Back now to Bill Hemmer, hopefully not getting too cold and not going to get the flu this year, we hope, Bill.</s>HEMMER: I'm with you there, Heidi. But listen, we're keeping warm -- trying, anyway. From last night, what were the under-the-radar stories in that debate? Carlos Watson has a look at that. There are four on Carlos' list, and we'll get to it right after this. Our coverage continues live in Cleveland in a moment on this AMERICAN MORNING.