I was thinking of getting back in at higher price than I sold on the basis that the shortage of conventional shots and possible efficacy advantage save the year. No longer so sure.
I used the search engine on the Flumist site to find the nearest ten pharmacies that supposedly stocked it, and went to the nearest one. This was a small pharmacy in down-town La Jolla, Ca, an upmarket area with high proportion of people over 50 and thus ineligible. There was a short line for flu vaccinations with a pharmacist administering.
They also had the jabs. I wasn't offered Flu-mist. I might look over 50, but when I asked about it I was told that reactions were more severe, that the jabs were better. Another customer volunteered that you could infect other people. Later I mentioned to a third customer that there was some suggestion that the attenuated live vaccine might give wider coverage, and he chose it. I also told him about the rebate. Only then did rebate forms appear.
A consent form asks a series of questions: age, heart problems, allergies, auto-immune diseases, ever had any respiratory disease including asthma, etc., and do you live with anyone who's immunity may be compromised. After I snorted it up the pharmacist warned may have a few days of a runny nose and mild fever. He asked me to call if I had any such symptoms. I asked how many doses had he administered, "maybe ten", and of the conventional, "six thousand."
I came home and phoned the other pharmacies listed. The two Ralphs had no vaccinations of any kind, one of them volunteered that they had abandoned the vaccinations because of a strike. One Save-on listed didn't stock it because they "didn't have the storage facilities." Another, which may also have been a Save-on said they had returned the stock because it had not been treated properly in transit (kept cool?). A third said they had sold a little before returning the remainder, it having "expired." Only four of the ten had Flumist available. One besides that which I visited had both. No one suggested that if I took Flumist it would leave a shot available to someone who was disqualified from taking Flumist.
The storage and transit problems may be a function of a supermarket strike going on in SoCAL. At least one of the Save-ons is located within an Albertson's store, and Albertson's, along with Ralphs and Vons, are being picketed with Teamsters refusing deliveries.
I'd like to read of a similar survey in another area. These results are not encouraging.
Ashley |
