Shortages of vaccines that your baby should receive occur from time to time.
These sometimes occur when a vaccine is first introduced, such as happened with Prevnar and RotaTeq. A manufacturing issue can also cause some vaccine shortages, which has lead to some of the flu shortages in recent years and a shortage in the Hib vaccine in late 2007.
Fortunately, most vaccine shortages are brief and have not lead to any disease outbreaks.
It can be important to remember if your child missed a vaccine though because of a shortage, so that you can get the vaccine once it becomes available.
If your child misses a vaccine, you might:
- ask if you can be put on a reminder or recall list, so that you will be called when the vaccine becomes available again. This can often be automated if your pediatrician submits your child's immunizations to a centralized, computerized immunization registry.
- bring your child's immunization record to all doctor visits until his shots are up-to-date.
- in a prolonged shortage, ask your pediatrician's office if they can order the vaccine from another manufacturer. For example, even though Merck's Pediatric VAQTA hepatitis A vaccine is on back order, that doesn't mean that GlaxoSmithKline's supply of their hepatitis A vaccine, Pediatric Havrix, is not available.
- review the CDC website to review the latest information on vaccine shortages.
