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 CVS Health Corp, one of the largest U.S. pharmacies, said it is
working to ensure it has vaccine doses available for an anticipated
surge in customers seeking shots to protect against seasonal
influenza.
Rival chain Rite Aid Corp has ordered 40 percent more vaccine doses
to meet the expected demand. Walmart Inc and Walgreens Boots
Alliance said they also are expecting more Americans to seek these
shots.
Drugmakers are ramping up to meet the demand. Australian vaccine
maker CSL Ltd's Seqirus said demand from customers has increased by
10 percent. British-based GlaxoSmithKline said it is ready to
increase manufacturing as needed.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,428 adults conducted May 13-19 found that
about 60 percent of U.S. adults plan to get the flu vaccine in the
fall. Typically fewer than half of Americans get vaccinated. The
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the
vaccine for everyone over age 6 months.
Getting a flu shot does not protect against COVID-19, the
respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus for which there
are no approved vaccines. Public health officials have said
vaccination against the flu will be critical to help prevent
hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with flu and COVID-19 patients.
"We're in for a double-barreled assault this fall and winter with
flu and COVID. Flu is the one you can do something about,“
Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious disease expert Dr.
William Schaffner said.
Drugmakers last year produced nearly 170 million doses of influenza
vaccine, according to the CDC. There were up to 740,000
hospitalizations and 62,000 deaths in the 2019-2020 flu season that
ended last month, the CDC said.
While health insurance typically covers the flu shot at a doctor's
office and other groups offer free flu vaccine clinics, the adult
vaccine retails for about $40, putting the U.S. market at up to $6.8
billion. The CDC secures some doses at a discount price in its child
vaccination program.
Global revenue for influenza vaccines is about $5 billion, according
to Wall Street firm Bernstein, and in the United States each
additional 1 percentage point of Americans getting the vaccine is
worth $75 million in revenues to drugmakers.
HEAVIER TOLL
CDC Director Robert Redfield has said that flu and COVID-19 combined
could exact a heavier toll on Americans than the initial coronavirus
outbreak that began this winter.
Some experts said creative ways must be developed to ensure that
people are vaccinated against flu because patients may be less
likely to see their doctors in person out of fear of getting
infected with the coronavirus in medical offices.
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Pharmacies, public health clinics and other flu shot providers may need to
develop drive-up clinics – popular with COVID-19 diagnostic tests – for flu
vaccines, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for
Immunization and Respiratory Disease.
"My goal is that every single vaccine dose that gets made gets into somebody's
arm to protect them. I don't want any vaccines left on the shelves or in
doctors' offices," Messonnier said in an interview.
One reason for reluctance among Americans to get the flu shot is that it does
not always prevent disease, in part because the flu strains selected as targets
of the vaccine months ahead of time are not always a perfect match for the
dominant flu strains that actually circulate in any given season. But the shots
reliably reduce hospitalizations every year, according to experts.
"Even if it protects 35 to 40 percent of the population, it's a lot better than
zero," University of Minnesota influenza expert Dr. Michael Osterholm said.
In a survey commissioned by CVS Health between January and May, consumers who
said they will definitely or are likely to get a flu shot rose from 34 percent
to 65 percent. They also said they would increasingly go to pharmacies and less
often to a doctor's office or healthcare centers.
Rite Aid Chief Pharmacy Officer Jocelyn Konrad said the pharmacy chain, which
provided about 2.6 million flu shots last year, upped its order by 40 percent
this year.
Rite Aid said social distancing policies may cut into workplace flu clinics but
that it may offer voucher programs to employers and is considering setting up
drive-through clinics. In Australia, where the winter flu season is underway,
such sites are already in use.
Some U.S. doctors are also considering clinics in parks and community centers
and even home visits for vulnerable patients, said David Ross, vice president of
commercial operations for North America at Seqirus.
"As we look at immunization this coming fall, it will play an enormous role in
this battle against COVID-19," Ross said.
(Reporting by Caroline Humer in New York and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago;
Additional reporting by Grant Smith in New York; Editing by Michele Gershberg
and Will Dunham)
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