‘Twindemic’ fear drives demand for flu shot
Doctors say number of patients getting the vaccine iswell ahead of last year
“We can’t treat COVID-19 at this point, but I have a vaccine to at least take the flu off the table.” Dr. Gary Sheppard, Harris County Medical Society
Demand for flu vaccines has jumped this year as doctors, worried about a second epidemic further straining the health care system, urge patients get their flu shots as soon as possible.
Doctors across Houston say the number of patients asking for and getting flu shots are running well ahead of last year. The national pharmacy chain Walgreens said it so far has administered 60 percent more flu shots than during the same period last year.
Dr. Gary Sheppard, president of the Harris
County Medical Society and a primary care doctor in southwest Houston, said he usually gets about 75 percent of his patients to agree to a flu shot during their checkups; this year, he estimates that 90 percent of the patients he’s seen since the beginning of September have opted for the vaccine.
“We can’t treat COVID-19 at this point,” Sheppard said, “but I have a vaccine to at least take the flu off the table.”
Doctors have raised the prospect of a “twindemic” with both COVID-19 and the flu spreading through the population. The flu vaccine doesn’t immunize patients from COVID-19, but it could prevent strain on testing capabilities and
hospitals by reducing the severity of flu illnesses, doctors said.
Dr. Lisa Ehrlich, a primary care physician in River Oaks, started getting calls from her patients as early as August asking for flu shots.
Ehrlich, who allocates vaccines based on age group, ran out of shots for her elderly patients early. Over six weeks, her office administered 600 highdose flu shots or about 100 per week.
Physicians order vaccines in January or February for the coming flu season, using the year prior’s flu season as an estimate.
In the past, if Ehrlich ran out of the vaccine during flu season, her staff could ask local pharmacies for extra doses of vaccine to inoculate more patients. But not this year.
“All of the suppliers are running low,” Ehrlich said. “Usually, it’s like, ‘Give me 50 to 100 more,” but this year they’re all scrounging.”
Meeting demand
Pharmaceutical companiesmanufactured190mil
lion doses of the flu shot for the 2020-2021 flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Glaxo Smith Kline, a multinational drug company, said it expects to supply more than 50 million flu vaccines this year, an increase from the 46 million distributed last year. Sanofi, another multinational drug manufacturer, produced 80 million doses in the U.S. for the 2020-2021 flu season, up from 70 million doses made last year.
The company began shipping vaccines to doctors in July, amonth earlier than it did for the 20192020 flu season.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand for flu vaccines and requires a shift in immunization approaches and timing of vaccination,” said Nicolas Kressmann, a Sanofi spokesperson.
Because doctors had to place orders for vaccines before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, doctors with short supplies have asked their patients to go to pharmacies to get immunizations.
“Normal patients that would have went to the physician’s office are now getting steered towards our CVS pharmacies,” said John Fratamico, a district leader and licensed pharmacist for CVS Health.
Flu shot demand has jumped at both CVS Health and Walgreens. Fratamico said more than half of customers nationwide indicated that they wanted to get their flu shots earlier this year. CVS has provided more than 9 million flu shots to date, and expects to administer 18 million by the end of the season, about double last season’s volume.
While nearly 70 percent of adults get flu vaccines at a doctor’s office, pharmacies are an increasingly popular destination for vaccinations. Almost a quarter of patients, 22 percent, went to a pharmacy or drugstore for the shot, according to the CDC.
In recent years, both CVS and Walgreens have incorporated routine medical care, telehealth and vaccines into their drugstore models. That paid off in 2020, where shoppers are limiting how often they go out and prefer to get their disposable face masks, COVID-19 tests and flu shots all in one location.
Doctors and pharmacies expect flu shot demand to continue into 2021. There should be sufficient supplies as manufacturers distribute the vaccines in several waves, Fratamico said.