A Spike In Flu Shots

The buzz surrounding the “swine flu” virus has raised the profile of its seasonal cousin, spiking demand for the seasonal flu vaccine, local pharmacists and health officials say.
Seasonal influenza and the swine flu strain of the H1N1 virus are different bugs, and a vaccination against one does not protect against the other. Still, many in the medical profession credit the publicity surrounding the swine flu – which was dubbed a pandemic by the World Health Organization in June – with spurring unprecedented flocks of people to get their seasonal flu vaccinations, here and across the country.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Derek Webb, a pharmacist at Food City in Abingdon, Va., who vaccinated 50 people in two days this week. Last year, he vaccinated a total of 250 people.
“We’ve got people with insurance who are paying cash and sending in their receipts to get reimbursed” because they want to get their vaccinations early, Webb said. “It’s a little bit of chaos.”
Pharmacists across the region tell a similar story.
At a Walgreens in Bristol, Tenn., pharmacist Collin Jones said flu shots have increased “three-, four- or five-fold over last year.”
Last year, Jones’ pharmacy administered approximately 200 flu shots; since Sept. 1, when Walgreens pharmacies began offering the vaccinations, pharmacists have already eclipsed that total, he said.
The trend is playing out across the nation, said a corporate spokesman for Illinois-based Walgreens.
During last year’s flu season, the company’s 7,000 pharmacies gave out 1.2 million seasonal flu vaccinations between October 2008 and February 2009. This year, they hit the 1 million mark in the first two weeks the vaccination was available, spokesman Jim Cohn said Thursday by phone.
Cohn attributed part of the increase to greater awareness generated by the 2009 swine flu. But Walgreens has also vastly expanded its flu shot-giving capabilities, offering vaccinations seven days a week, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Cohn said.
Pharmacists are pleased with the increased awareness about influenza.
“We can’t downplay seasonal flu,” said Don Clark, vice president of pharmacy operations for Food City, quoting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics that the seasonal strain results in more than 200,000 hospitalizations and about 36,000 deaths a year. “Most deaths are preventable with a flu shot,” he said.
In the employee lounge at Food City headquarters in Abingdon Thursday, Jason Toller, 30, of Glade Spring, Va., was one of between 350-400 employees who signed up to get a shot.
“My wife’s a school teacher, so I didn’t want to bring anything home,” he said, adding that he drives a different truck every day.
At the Anderson Compounding Pharmacy in Bristol, Tenn., the uptick in demand for the seasonal flu vaccine comes in the form of requests from doctors who have run out of the vaccine.
“We’ve probably sold 20 bottles to doctors offices,” said pharmacist Cleve Anderson. “We stock up a lot for them.”
One place the higher demand for the vaccine apparently does not show up is in public health clinics.
“We’ve had some mass clinics,” said Jamie Swift, director of communicable diseases at the Northeast Tennessee Regional Health Office. “Attendance has been average to even a little low.”
That’s because the vaccine is “so available in the community. Demand has been a little slower. We have plenty of the vaccine available.”
The 2009 swine flu vaccine is not due to come out until October. When it does, Swift said, the health department will offer it for free.

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