(Host) The Vermont Health Department says a shortage of a vaccine for shingles is due to a bottleneck in manufacturing. On Monday the Department’s Burlington office announced it had run out of the shingles vaccine.
Health Department Medical Director Don Swartz says the same virus is used to manufacture both shingles vaccine and chicken pox vaccine. Right now, the priority is the manufacture of chicken pox vaccine to immunize children who are entering school:
(Swartz) "So that’s made a tremendous run on the virus supply, in order to crank out enough vaccine to take care of all the kids who need two doses, who are going to school this year. So the manufacturer just doesn’t have the capacity to meet that surge of need and maintain the production of the shingles vaccine."
(Host) The Health Department had sponsored a program to distribute free shingles vaccine to people over 60, a population that is susceptible to the illness.
Shingles is a painful illness that can develop in people who’ve had chicken pox or who’ve taken the chicken pox vaccine.
Swartz says the shortage is temporary. Doses of the shingles vaccine may be available from private doctors’ offices or pharmacies. He cautions that the vaccine is fragile and needs to be stored and administered in a carefully controlled environment.