Health

Local flu shots hard to come by

Posted: Jan 16, 2013 1:46 PM by Adam Bell
Updated: Jan 16, 2013 1:54 PM

BOZEMAN - The concern for a bad flu season has hurt the vaccine supply locally.

"I think it's a simple supply and demand, and in some places, we are seeing a shortage," City County Health Officer Matt Kelley said.

The flu vaccine this season is hard to come by in the Gallatin Valley, and that has many people concerned.

"There is no shortage of the vaccine, in the true word. What's happening is, because of the severity of the flu season this year, a lot of people are scrambling to get immunized that for whatever reason have not gotten immunized in the past, so just as of recently it's taxing the supply," Pharmacy Services Manager for Bozeman Deaconess Hospital Mike Bertagnolli said.

At Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, the flu vaccines have a priority list, going to in-patients first, the remainder going to the pharmacy, and sometimes, they run out.

"We do turn people away, we did last week we ran out at the end of that day and we've informed patients that we would have more vaccine, not very few thankfully, but it's first come first serve," says Bertagnolli.

"We haven't turned anybody away yet, that day may come fairly soon," says Kelley with the City County Health Department.

While supply is limited, there are ways to find it, with a little bit of some effort.

"The best advice I can give is to call around, keep calling, there's a lot of, the great thing, great news is a lot of organizations out there now," says Matt.

Kelley adds that as we head into the spring, the situation looks to become better, as concerns go down and more people get vaccinated.