Vexing Vaccine Issues
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
The squeeze a national shortage of flu vaccine has put on clincs and state medical facilities is nothing to sneeze at. At the Darnell Drug Store in Little Rock folks waited in line for more than a hour for their shots, but many had the front door closed on them. While state health units have to follow federal recommendations to save doses for those in high risk groups, private clinics don`t. Doctor Robert Kennedy of Chenal Family Practice feels he has a responsibility for preventative medicine and he also worried about liability. He feels he may be sued if he denied vaccine to a low risk individual who ended up dying from the flu. The state health department has 100 thousand doses on hand now and plans to distribute them through local health units starting in November. They hope to get more for the other 300 thousand high risk people, health directors believe live in the state.
