STATE OBTAINS MORE DOSES OF FLU VACCINE 60,000 SHOTS SET FOR L.A. COUNTY.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

State health officials said Thursday that they have received a shipment of nearly 272,000 doses of flu vaccine and plan to distribute them next week to health departments throughout the state, including more than 60,000 doses for Los Angeles County.

Ventura County will receive 6,290 doses, San Bernardino County will get 13,090, and the Long Beach Health Department will get 3,550.

``Because of the nationwide shortage of flu vaccine this season, these flu shots are intended for individuals who are at high risk for serious complications from the flu,'' state Public Health Officer Dr. Richard Joseph Jackson said. ``Those who are not in the high-risk groups should not get a flu shot.''

The extra doses were purchased from Aventis-Pasteur, a vaccine manufacturer based in France. Another maker, Chiron Corp., was unable to fulfill orders for flu vaccine this year because of manufacturing problems.

So far, the state health department has provided more than 234,000 doses of flu vaccine to local health departments for children from low-income families and those enrolled in Medi-Cal or the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program.

Los Angeles County health officials said they have had no success in buying extra doses of flu vaccine from private suppliers, after the county allocated $900,000 last week for the effort.

The county officials expect to announce plans today on who will get the 60,060 doses from the state. The county recently canceled giving out shots at 189 clinics because of the shortage.

``We have plans we are formulating,'' said Dr. Laurene Mascola, director of the Acute Communicable Disease Control Program for Los Angeles County Public Health. ``We plan to stick with vaccinating people at the high-risk skilled nursing facilities. We have some other plans about vaccinating the most high-risk people and the best way to do that.''

Officials say some doctors still have supplies of the vaccine, so elderly and other at-risk people should keep calling around. Officials say there is still time because the flu season doesn't start until mid-November and doesn't peak until December.

This year's flu vaccine shortage could cost the nation up to $20 billion in lost productivity - twice as much as a typical year - depending on the severity of the outbreak, officials estimate.

The average worker misses about one to 1 1/2 days a year because of the flu, an absentee rate that could double because of scant flu vaccine supplies this year.

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

FLU INFO

For more information about the flu, visit the county Web site at lapublichealth.org/ip/index.htm, or call [phone].

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FLU INFO (see text)