Public Rushing to Get Influenza Vaccines|自費四價流感疫苗傳缺貨 民眾排隊搶施打

The Centers for Disease Control launched the government-funded seasonal trivalent influenza vaccination on Oct. 15, so far, 1.82 million people have received the vaccine, breaking past years' records. Under the rush, supplies of the self-paid quadrivalent influenza vaccine is now out of stock. The CDC however, urges the public not to panic, as both the trivalent and quadrivalent influenza vaccines offer sufficient protection.


The Centers for Disease Control launched the government-funded seasonal influenza vaccination campaign on Oct. 15. People have also been getting vaccinated at their own expense. Less than two weeks later, many clinics and hospitals have announced they have run out of self-paid quadrivalent influenza vaccines, leading to a rush to get the vaccine.

Before, they said the wrong strain had been predicted and the trivalent vaccine was ineffective, so I thought the quadrivalent vaccine would afford greater protection and I wanted to get the quadrivalent vaccine.

Our vaccines were delivered and we wanted to place additional orders, but our supplier had already run out.

There are currently two types of available influenza vaccines. The one being offered at public expense is the trivalent vaccine, which targets the influenza A viruses H1N1 and H3N2 and an influenza B virus of the Victoria lineage. The other is the quadrivalent vaccine, which is self-paid. It targets the same three viruses as the trivalent vaccine as well as an influenza B virus of the Yamagata lineage. The CDC says both types of vaccines offer sufficient protection.

You can spend a bit more money to give yourself extra insurance, although it's unknown whether it will be worth it, as many people were already infected with the influenza B virus (of the Yamagata lineage) at the beginning of this year.

Statistics show 1.82 million people have received the government-funded vaccine since Oct. 15. The government offered a total of six million vaccines. Pharmaceuticals cumulatively acquired 466,000 doses of the quadrivalent vaccine this year. One says it will acquire an additional 110,000 doses before year-end.