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Kansas City Star: Health Agencies Want Mercury Vaccines As the debate continues, the company that makes most flu vaccines says there is a waiting list this year for health agencies that want vaccines that contain mercury. Meanwhile, the company is scaling back production of its mercury-free vaccine, The Kansas City Star has learned. Only Sanofi Pasteur is approved to market a new mercury-free pediatric flu vaccine. Spokesman Len Lavenda said the company had planned to make 8 million doses of the mercury-free version of its Fluzone vaccine for this flu season but has cut back to 6 million doses. The CDC estimates it would take about 12 million doses to vaccinate all children ages 6 months to 23 months. "We were prepared to more than double the quantity this year, but demand for the product didn't warrant producing that much," Lavenda said. "While we have on several occasions sold out all of our preservative-containing (mercury) vaccine in the last several years, we have never sold out all of our preservative-free vaccine." Lavenda said he had no idea why health officials were not ordering more mercury-free vaccine. Download complete article on the Kansas City Star Web Site. |
