Pharmacies Pressed to Meet High Demand for Flu Vaccine

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Pharmacies around the city struggled to meet the demand for flu vaccinations on Sunday, a day after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declared a public health state of emergency in response to a drastic increase in the number of flu cases this year.

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

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In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Harlem and places in between, pharmacists were turning away people looking for the last line of defense against a virus that appears to be stronger than ever.

“Just to let you know, I can only take one more on the line,” said Carlos Collazo, a pharmacy intern who was called in to work at a Rite Aid in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on his day off. Those who missed the cut, like Tamika Louissaint and her sister, Doris, had to look elsewhere in the neighborhood or put off the injection at least another day, while drugstores waited for more shipments.

“I was a little bit nervous because of the warning,” Doris Louissaint said, referring to Mr. Cuomo’s declaration. “I’ll go someplace else with her.” The sisters walked away.

The city Health Department said it could not provide data on the availability of vaccines. There were shortages in some areas but they were not pervasive, a spokesman for the department said. Yet an informal telephone survey of a dozen drugstores in neighborhoods across the city found that all but three had run out of the vaccine. Most that had exhausted their supplies said they expected to replenish them by Monday.

The governor’s emergency declaration on Saturday temporarily suspended a state law that prohibits pharmacists from vaccinating children.

More at link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/nyregion/pharmacies-pressed-to-meet-high-demand-for-flu-vaccine.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fhealth%2Findex.jsonp