Dr. Poland highlighted the tiered approach that targeted the earliest available H1N1 vaccine to high-risk people as another factor that dissipated momentum of the vaccination effort. “I don't think it works well on a public health level. It caused delay, and as a result we'll have tens of millions of H1N1 vaccine [doses] go to waste. If we had instead said first-come first-served I don't think we would have wasted as many doses.”
The major underlying problem appears to have been a mismatch between vaccine supply and demand.
“If I had to choose one element that slowed the whole thing down, it was that the bulk of the vaccine began to arrive between [Thanksgiving and Christmas], and there was a sense by then that H1N1 had peaked.,” said Dr. Schaffner.
Because the U.S. government totally funded H1N1 vaccine production, the sources in this article have no disclosures relevant to the topic.
'In Tennessee, we have ample supplies of vaccine and few customers right now. The stock is not moving.'
Source DR. SCHAFFNER