CONGRATULATIONS to Student Health, as last week the University hosted "Flu Fest," a day-long event to inoculate college students for a wide variety of diseases and keep students up to date on their vaccinations. Hopefully, Flu Fest will be a long-standing practice by the University. However, the event came to an unhappy end when many students were left waiting for the vaccine, which is becoming a common sight every flu season around the country.
In the University's case, it is up to the manufacturers supplying both the University and the company working on applying the vaccines, Intravene, to correctly supply the number of vaccines needed. While the creation of Flu Fest is an improvement from the past, on a larger scale, the federal government must provide more support for manufacturers and administrators in order to supply additional stock of vaccines for both the University and other colleges.
Flu Fest was originally created to inoculate all students around the University. Both the University and Intravene, the company supplying and helping administer the vaccines, combined their stockpiles of flu vaccine to work on vaccinating as many students who arrived during the day as they could. Intravene received many of their flu vaccines from companies such as Chiron, a major supplier of flu vaccine around the nation. Much of Chiron's funding comes from grants from the federal government.
The University and Itravene supplied enough vaccines to accommodate 2,100 students, according to Nursing Director Sandi Murray. However, Flu Fest was only able to supply enough flu vaccines from 10 a.m. to 5:20 p.m., as opposed to the original time slot to 8 p.m. Students originally looking to receive vaccinations after 5:20 p.m. received messages outside mentioning that the flu vaccine would not be able to be administered. Even when both the University and Intravene combined both their stockpiles, they were not able to sufficiently inoculate all students. Additionally, due to the lack of flu vaccines provided, not even the University Hospital nursing department or Medical School was inoculated. The shortage of the vaccines supplied was as much a disappointment for the medical staff as it was for students.
According to Murray, "Intravene was only able to receive 30 percent of what they booked" from other manufacturers of the flu vaccine, such as Chiron, one of the major manufacturers for Flu Fest. According to The Washington Post, on a national scale, Chiron has manufactured only the bare minimum of total vaccines from an original 18 to 26 million that was originally planned, and only a part of that estimate has received approval from regulators for their release. This is an indication of a woeful shortage of flu vaccine supplies from these companies, and, in the face of a huge public health problem, is an indication that federal grants to manufacture flu vaccines must be increased.
Unfortunately, while the Bush administration works to prepare tardily for the avian flu, the shortages in vaccines for current flu viruses are not receiving the attention from the federal government. Many students do not have a clinic in their hometowns that can provide a vaccine to this disease and are reliant on the flu vaccine that is available at the University.
The federal government has woefully supplied the country with the current vaccine for the flu, while providing a $7.1 billion bill primarily dealing with the possibility of a deadly avian flu hitting the United States. While this bill may stockpile flu vaccines for a potential outbreak of a disease that is not yet transmissible to humans, the bill does not sufficiently address the current need regular flu vaccines in clinics and universities around the nation.
Fortunately for this community, the University plans to sponsor another day of inoculations against the flu, according to Murray. The next Flu Fest that is held by the University should have a better estimate on how to accommodate additional stockpiles for an increase in students and should have a more accurate timeframe of the supply available from the information provided from the previous flu fest. The next wave of vaccinations should also be as well advertised as last week, with flyers and information around Grounds as well as e-mails.
While the University and other colleges and clinics are working to provide a second wave of vaccinations so that many of the University students can build up immunity, this must be complemented by a better federal flu policy. The government must boost manufacturing grants for this flu season to create a healthier America, right down to the University's Flu Fest.
Adam Silverberg's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at asilverberg@cavalierdaily.com.
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