The Day The Shots Ran Out

By Christine Gorman With Reporting by Sarah Sturmon Dale/Minneapolis

This is national infant Immunization Week. Now that's not a subject I would normally deem column worthy, but in this case the irony is too rich to ignore. For even as it celebrates the benefits of childhood vaccination, the U.S. is running out of the very vaccines needed to do the job. The biggest shortfalls: chicken-pox vaccine, various tetanus vaccines and the so-called pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Here's another paradox: the U.S. government is about to spend $850 million to make sure there's enough smallpox vaccine to protect every man, woman and child against the theoretical risk of a bioterrorist attack. Yet at the same time it's having trouble protecting kids from the clear and present danger of tetanus and meningitis.

We're not on the verge of a chicken-pox epidemic, but the longer the shortages persist, the greater the risk. "All you need is one case to get you into trouble," says Dr. James McCord of the Children's Hospitals and Clinics in St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minn. McCord and other pediatricians expect they'll be able to start catching up when more vaccine becomes available later this summer. But that means keeping track of lots of kids who have fallen behind in their immunization schedules. For many parents it also means taking yet another day off from work to make sure their children get their makeup shots.

The reasons for the shortages differ for each vaccine. For example, the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis) vaccine got hit by a double whammy. One of its major producers, then called Wyeth Lederle Vaccines, left the market just as new rules to cut down the mercury in the vaccine began to take effect. Aventis, another major DTaP producer, was caught off guard and had trouble overhauling its manufacturing process while simultaneously ramping up production. Making vaccines isn't a particularly profitable business, so there isn't a lot of competition for the work.

Several short-term solutions have been proposed, including stockpiling more vaccines and requiring one year's notice before a manufacturer drops production. Until things get straightened out, parents should probably keep their own record of which immunizations their children have received and which ones they still lack. Don't be afraid to call your pediatrician's office every so often to see if deliveries have arrived. Meanwhile, school districts that require immunizations have been informed of the problem and should give waivers to students who have made a good-faith effort to get their shots.

--With reporting by Sarah Sturmon Dale/Minneapolis

For more info, visit cdc.gov or e-mail gorman@time.com