With flu season in full swing, some pharmacies in the Miller Place-Rocky Point area are experiencing shortages of the vaccine due to high demand.
As of Friday afternoon, Rite Aid in Miller Place was out of the vaccine but were expecting more to come in later in the day.
"We didn't see a shortage until the flu hit hard early this season," said Vishi Ruder with the pharmacy at Rite Aid. "I think news about the flu is panicking everyone a bit. There are people that, if you asked a few months ago if they would get a flu shot would say no, but they now are coming in."
Flu shots are $29.99 at Rite Aids — or less with insurance — and available on a walk-in basis while in stock.
CVS locations in Rocky Point and Miller Place still have some in stock. Mike DeAngelis, director of public relations for CVS, reports that they are administering many more flu shots this season than last.
"Due to high demand caused by the early outbreak of influenza, some of our locations may experience intermittent, temporary shortages of flu vaccine," DeAngelis said, "but we still have vaccine in stock and we resupply our pharmacies and clinics as quickly as possible.
"Last season, we administered over 2 million shots. This season, we’ve already administered 4 million shots."
Echo Pharmacy in Miller Place is not administering flu shots this season.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that 18 children nationally have died of flu so far this year, with cases reported in nearly every state.
A Long Island expert on infectious diseases Thursday urged parents to get their children and themselves vaccinated now as the flu turned into an epidemic.
Dr. Sunil K. Sood said the flu season is considerably worse this year than it has been in several years. “First, it started very early this year, and second, the number of cases has dramatically increased nationwide,” he said. “Third, of the three strains, one, H-3, is associated with a higher death rate.”
This year’s flu vaccine protects against three strains, H-1 and H-3, and a third, Type B. “H-3 gives you a much worse disease,” he said.
Sood, who is director of pediatrics at Southside Hospital and an attending doctor in infectious diseases at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York, emphasized the need for children to be protected. And for others to be protected from small disease carriers. “I’ve been giving really passionate speeches to parents that it is really dangerous not to have vaccinated themselves and their children,” he said. “If you haven’t immunized your child even healthy kids can die. Children are the spreaders and they pass it on to older people as well.”
Those over 65 or with compromised immune systems are among the most vulnerable.
“It’s been recommended that every child over 6 months and adults get vaccinated but only 45 percent of children got vaccinated last year," Sood said. "That’s really, really sad."
And, he said, too many health workers don’t get vaccinated either, potentially jeopardizing patients.
Sood had answers to those arguing against the vaccination. “No vaccine is perfect, but this year is a very good vaccine,” he said. “It is impossible to get flu from the shot because it uses a killed virus. And yes, you can get influenza but it won’t be as bad or you could get another virus.”
As far as the timing, Sood said it is not too late. “People say the cat is out of the bag; the answer is: 'No, go get it today.' You still have some time. It takes about a week to start developing immunity, so it’s not too late. There is no shortage this year; every doctor’s office, every supermarket, has the vaccine. etc. There’s no excuse. And we don’t know how the long the season will last.”
