Flu vaccine experience leaves physicians watchful, worried

Though physicians still consider the vaccine to have significant value, some are becoming more hesitant about administering it.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Aug. 22/29, 2005.

The hard-luck experiences of recent influenza seasons have led physicians to view the upcoming months of coughs, colds and flu shots with both glass-half-full and glass-half-empty attitudes. But vaccine experts are paying close attention to how these feelings translate into ordering and vaccination trends, because they believe it could foreshadow future public health challenges.

According to unpublished data from a survey of 1,200 physicians carried out by University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 98% of physicians plan to administer the flu vaccine this season, with an estimated 38% to 51% ordering more doses than last year. A complete analysis of the University of Colorado data is expected to be published later this year.

AMNews, however, conducted a small, unscientific poll of its own to gain insight into what has become a complicated picture. Forty-five family physicians and internists from 27 states responded. All are active in the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians or the American Academy of Family Physicians, and their work situations range from solo practice to large multispecialty groups.

Overall, most said they had significant problems last year because of Chiron Corp.'s abrupt exit from the market when plant contamination problems triggered a loss of nearly half of the expected U.S. supply. This episode, which came on the tail of other difficult seasons, appears to have changed how some feel about their role in administering the vaccine.