Flu Shots
...ere almost 30 U.S. vaccine makers in 1967, but there were only five in 2003. The federal government should have a variety of companies to rely on for flu shots in case one company might shut down, not just five. Just recently, my grandmother acquired the flu and suffered symptoms of headache, fever, runny nose, fatigue, weakness, and exhaustion. My mother scrambled to find flu vaccine for my grandmother and could not help but worry about her insubstantial 84 year old mother. She was barely able to get a shot for it at a nearby clinic, but the supplier demanded that she pay 3 times the usual price because of the shortage, which was about twenty- eight dollars. Two thirds of the flu vaccine supply was distributed to larger companies. When the larger companies acquire the doses for the flu vaccine, they can sell it to smaller distributors, who then sell to even smaller suppliers. The smaller suppliers will give flu vaccines early in the season at high prices on the chance that they will be able to resell it for even more when the flu season intensifies. When dramatic shortages start to occur, that’s when the smaller suppliers will be gaining profit. This is wrong because it allows for other factors to venture in such as the amount of money you would have to spend if you were to get a shot. Having to spend more for something that is actually affordable is unreasonable and dishonest. Along with my grandmother, my sister also acquired the flu. However, the fact that almost half of the flu vaccinations were only available to particular individuals made the situation more complex. My sister did not meet any of the requirements for getting a shot, therefore she was rejected. This year, only 2 companies supplied the vaccine, and only one distributor got them to the U.S. The government should have been more prepared if a situation like this occurred, but this deficiency shows that they were not. They did not have enough vaccine contracts to approve with back up suppliers, nor did they have anything that could have been used in the United States. We need a long term solution to this so we can prevent this from happening in the near future. Without alternative suppliers, rapid outbreak of the flu could leave us unprotected. If the demand was met on time, my sister would have gotten the vaccine and avoided 2 unpleasant weeks of...