A shortage of a new, two-dose shingles vaccine is leaving pharmacists frustrated and patients worried.
Salem resident Claudia Carmichael and her husband already received their first dose of Shingrix, but now it's unclear if there will be enough supply for them to get their second shots, which are recommended within two to six months of the first.
"We weren't worried about that, but now we are," said Carmichael. The Carmichaels are both in their 60s.
Approved last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Shingrix has become an alternative vaccine to Zostavax, introduced in 2006.
It has a higher rate of effectiveness — more than 90 percent — and a lower age at which patients can receive it — 50 instead of 60, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But less than a year into its U.S. debut, Shingrix has become scarce at pharmacies across the country.
Shingles isn't life-threatening, but the viral infection causes an extremely painful rash, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can affect any part of the body, but is most often seen as a stripe of blisters around the torso’s right or left side.
Shingles is caused by the same virus as that causes chickenpox. "After you've had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain," according to the clinic. "Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles."
However, vaccinations can help prevent such a reoccurrence.
The vaccine has been in short supply since about June, said Stephen Certo, a director of pharmacy operations with Albertsons Companies, which also operates Safeway stores.
Certo said physicians and pharmacies across the U.S. promoted the vaccine, but manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline appears not to have anticipated the demand.
"Now you're struggling ... to give people a first dose because you need to give them the second dose," Certo said.
Patients put on waiting lists
Pharmacies are putting patients on waiting lists for a first dose, "but it's going to be a while because we need to take care of the people who got their first dose ... two to six months ago," he said.
Patients do not need a prescription for Shingrix in Oregon and Washington, Certo said.
For those who are seeking the vaccine amid the shortage, however, Certo recommends staying in touch with their doctor and getting on a pharmacy's wait list.
The Oregon Health Authority has been unable to supply any local public health departments with the shingles vaccine, spokeswoman Delia Hernandez said.
"The manufacturer hopes to have more to distribute by the first of the year," she said.
"OHA would supply Shingrix to any of our local public health departments that wanted to provide it," Hernandez said. "We do not know who those might be yet, because we are unable to supply it."
In a May letter to customers, GlaxoSmithKline said their Shingrix shingles vaccine's arrival "has been met with an unprecedented level of demand."
"While we recognize the desire to move quickly to vaccinate with Shingrix, the demand has outpaced our robust supply plan for the launch phase," Patrick Desbiens, senior vice president, U.S. Vaccines, said in the letter.
"To keep pace, GSK is working diligently to expedite additional Shingrix deliveries, and in the near term, we have placed Shingrix on back order until we restore our inventory," Desbiens said in the letter.
GSK spokesman Sean Clements told the Statesman Journal on Monday the company is "shipping a large volume of vaccine this week and ship similar volumes every two to three weeks."
"Shingrix has been met with an unprecedented level of demand from patients and health care professionals," Clements said. "GSK has responded to this demand by significantly increasing and accelerating shipments of Shingrix this year."
He said in the U.S., upwards of 3 million doses of Shingrix have been administered from the vaccine's launch through the end of June.
"We expect to vaccinate significantly more patients against shingles this year than were vaccinated in total in 2017," Clements said.
The company "is fully committed to expediting Shingrix resupply throughout 2018," Clements said.
Flu vaccine in good supply
Despite high demand for flu vaccines this year, there have been no problems with supply, Certo said.
With multiple flu-related deaths last year, more people are "heading the warning" to get their flu shots, he said. Certo has personally heard people who've never gotten the shot getting one this year.
OHA's Hernandez also said there were "no flu vaccine shortages," just "normal delays in deliveries."
Email jbach@statesmanjournal.com, call (503) 399-6714 or follow on Twitter @jonathanmbach.
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