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Bridge said KDMC received and administered approximately 700 doses of seasonal flu vaccine before supplies dried up, about 70 percent of the yearly average of 1,000 doses the hospital orders. He said KDMC employees who missed the first round of inoculations are being directed to the health department.
"I wasn't even able to finish my schoolteachers this year like I usually do," Bridge said. "I hate it, because I thought it was a service for the community we've done really well."
Dr. Joe Moak of the Moak-Massengill clinic said his establishment received no seasonal flu vaccine this year despite placing an order for 500 doses. It's the first time in 27 years the clinic will be unable to vaccinate its patients, he said.
"The company that we deal with notified us about one week before we were anticipating our 500 does that we wouldn't be receiving ours," Moak said. "Long story short, we never received any seasonal flu vaccine and we will not receive any swine flu vaccine either."
Brookhaven's Walgreens has administered the seasonal flu vaccine for the last two months, but pharmacy technician Valerie Smith said her store's supply has been exhausted and no more will be delivered.
"The Walgreens in Hazlehurst is the only store giving the flu shots," she said.
Mississippi State Department of Health Director of Communications Liz Sharlot said local health departments have the seasonal flu vaccine and will continue to replenish their supplies. Inoculations are $25 for adults and $10 for children.
"Currently, we do have seasonal flu vaccine available at all of our county health departments and we expect another large shipment in by the end of the month," she said. "All shipments should be out by the end of November."
Sharlot said providers other than county health departments should receive more shipments of seasonal flu vaccine and was puzzled when informed that Brookhaven establishments have been told by their suppliers that shipments have been ended.
"They need to report that to the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)," she said. "Everyone should rest assured - we have plenty."
The current lack of seasonal flu vaccine is not critical, Sharlot said, because Mississippi's flu season doesn't traditionally start until the end of December.
When both the seasonal and swine flu vaccines are made available, people should receive them both, said KDMC Chief Pharmacist Clyde Sbravati.
"Based on statistics, we should start seeing increased cases of the seasonal flu as the flu season progresses, and the swine flu just hit us and there's no resistance out there, so you're seeing it year-round," he said. "Everyone should get both vaccines, and there should be plenty to go around."
Moak worries those who remember an isolated incident in 1976 in which a handful of people contracted a neurological illness from swine flu vaccinations will refuse the inoculation. The incident occurred when a relatively small number of people contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome, a form of paralysis that is usually temporary but did result in some deaths that year.
"The people who had that severe reaction, almost all of those patients had a prior food poisoning illness called campylobacter," Moak said. "If you've been sick within the last month with food poisoning or a major illness, hold off on the vaccine, tell your physician, use common sense."
Otherwise, Moak pointed out the outbreak was 30 years ago and the modern swine flu vaccine is more advanced and better produced. He recommended seasonal and swine flu vaccination.
