Many older Americans are struggling to find a high-dose flu shot designed to offer extra protection in patients over age 65, reports The Boston Globe.
Numerous pharmacies and medical clinics have not received shipments of the Fluzone High-Dose vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur. The drugmaker said the shipment delays stem from the World Health Organization's recommendation for this season's flu shot formulation, which came out later than usual.
Sanofi Pasteur said there is not a shortage of the high-dose vaccine; it's just being shipped later than usual.
"Three-quarters of the vaccine supply has been shipped," Monica Mercer, MD, medical director at the drugmaker's manufacturing site in Swiftwater, Pa., told The Globe. "We will continue to ship till November."
The Fluzone High-Dose vaccine contains the same three flu strains as a typical flu shot, but is four times more concentrated.