Officials with the Arkansas prison system will continue efforts this week to locate flu vaccine for their most medically vulnerable inmates, including those who are over 65 and those with chronic illnesses like HIV.
The state Department of Health plans to provide the prison system with 250 doses. Arkansas Department of Correction officials have said, however, that they will need about 1,000.
The prison system's medical provider, Correctional Medical Services Inc. of St. Louis, has been unable to provide the vaccinations this year, prison spokesman Dina Tyler said. But the company and prison officials are still working to acquire vaccine. "We're scrambling just like everyone else is," Tyler said Friday.
In October, the federal government froze sales of vaccines from Chiron Corp., one of two companies that were to provide vaccines to the United States. Those who had planned to buy doses of the flu shots from Chiron have had to find other sources or go without.
Last week, the Health Department announced plans to conduct flu shot clinics around the state at the same starting time Wednesday. The department distributed 160,000 doses of the flu vaccine in 2003.
This year, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided 114,850 to the state. The Health Department plans to distribute the flu vaccine to only those in high-risk groups, including providing almost 50,000 to nursing homes across the state. "The Department of Correction did request 1,000 doses of the flu vaccine and, because of the shortage, they were able to get 250," Linda Joslin, a spokesman for the Health Department, said Friday.
The Correction Department - with roughly 13,500 inmates at any given time - typically begins providing flu shots to certain inmates in early November. Those targeted for the vaccine include those with chronic illnesses and older prisoners. "For these at-risk categories, the flu can be fatal," Tyler said.
Prison officials in other states employ similar rationale in deciding who in their inmate populations gets the flu vaccine. "We're following the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for who should get the flu shots," said John Fougere, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Correction. "Therefore, the only inmates who would get them in Missouri are elderly offenders and those with chronic medical conditions."
Fougere said Correctional Medical Services, which also provides medical services to Missouri prisons, was able to get 8,700 doses of the vaccine. Missouri inmates have received 5,200 of those. Roughly 8,000 of the state's 30,000 inmates are eligible to receive the vaccine under the CDC guidelines.
Tyler said it's not unusual that Correctional Medical Services would be able to supply flu vaccine in one state and not another. She said prisons in different states can be serviced by different pharmaceutical companies.
The Arkansas Department of Correction was also unable to get flu shots for prison staff this year. Tyler said those in need of a shot will have to go to one of the Health Department clinics.
The Missouri prison department has received some complaints from the public about inmates getting shots when the vaccine is in such short supply nationally, Fougere said. But the decision on whether to vaccinate inmates is ultimately up to the medical-services provider, he said. Fougere added that prison officials think it's important to prevent a flu outbreak in the prison population because of how quickly it could spread.
Tyler said the Arkansas Department of Correction hasn't received any such complaints, but it is the prison's responsibility to provide a level of medical care comparable to what inmates would receive outside prison walls. "People need to keep in mind, these inmates are in our care," Tyler said. "They are people, too, and the ones that are slated to get the flu shot are the ones who are in the most danger of dying from the flu."