Influenza vaccine hard to get a shot | retail booking becomes a problem, scalper prices double
The Paper Journalist Li Xiaoxiao
It’s hard to get a flu shot. Appointing a flu shot is like grabbing tickets during the Spring Festival. The source of flu vaccination is "second light"...
In the first autumn since the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage of influenza vaccine has attracted attention. The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) found through interviews and investigations that different groups have different feelings about whether the current influenza vaccine is in short supply.
Smooth vaccination of priority groups such as primary and secondary schools: unified arrangement
In addition to the concern about the shortage of influenza vaccines, the vaccination of key populations is basically progressing smoothly.
On October 11, Beijing announced the free influenza vaccination work. The free vaccinations include primary and middle school students.
Lin Qiang (pseudonym) living in Beijing has a daughter who went to junior high school. On the second day of the start of vaccination, that is, on October 12, her daughter took back a sheet of "Information on Influenza Prevention and Influenza Vaccination-To Parents of Students" A letter from ", let him sign for confirmation.
Notice of a middle school in Beijing about influenza vaccination
Lin Qiang had already paid attention to the news of the shortage of flu vaccine through the circle of friends before, and was a little worried that the vaccine could not be successfully applied this year, but seeing that the school had unified arrangements, he was more relieved.
Parents who have similar feelings to Lin Qiang are not limited to Beijing.
Since mid-September this year, Shanghai has successively made appointments for influenza vaccines.
A parent in Shanghai told The Paper that the child had already made an appointment for influenza vaccination at school, and he did not encounter a situation where the appointment was missed.
In addition, medical personnel are not affected by the shortage of vaccines.
A practitioner in the pharmaceutical industry in Shanghai told The Paper that “family members work in the hospital, and the hospital is finished, and their frontline staff must fight.” In his feelings, there is no shortage of flu vaccines, and it’s not that difficult to make an appointment. .
Students and medical staff did not feel the shortage. The answer can be found in the Technical Guidelines for Influenza Vaccination in China (2020-2021) (referred to as the "Guide") issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in mid-September.
The "Guide" proposes that this year, taking into account the situation of the new crown epidemic, in order to minimize the harm of influenza and the impact on the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic, it is recommended to vaccinate key and high-risk groups in order of priority, with medical personnel ranking first, followed by elderly care Institutions, long-term care institutions, welfare homes and other crowded places for vulnerable groups and employees, ranked third are the teachers and students of kindergarten institutions, primary and secondary schools, etc., who are key places that are prone to influenza and new crown outbreaks.
People who are given priority for vaccination are usually engaged in one-to-many jobs, and more people are more likely to be affected after the flu occurs. One person receiving flu vaccine can have a wider preventive effect.
For example, the guidelines emphasize that vaccination of medical staff with influenza vaccine can prevent individuals from being infected with influenza and cause inefficiency or absenteeism to affect the operation of medical institutions, and it can also effectively prevent influenza from spreading to colleagues or patients, ensuring and maintaining the normal reception and treatment capabilities of medical institutions. .
At the 2020 (37th) National Medical Industry Information Annual Conference on August 30, Zhang Hui, vice president of the China Food and Drug Control Research Institute, revealed, "Up to now, more than 30 million copies have been issued. It is estimated that there will be 50 million copies before the monthly flu season."
Based on this figure, 50 million people can get the flu vaccine this year.
It is difficult for retail investors to make an appointment for influenza vaccine: private hospitals that spend more money can not get it
Lin Qiang's vaccination letter signed for his daughter mentioned that "the flu vaccine is in short supply in 2020", which is indeed the case.
Yanzi (pseudonym), who is also in Beijing, had a fever because his child caught influenza A last year. He had made up his mind to get the flu vaccine this year. However, compared with Lin Qiang, whose child was in junior high school, Yanzi paid a lot of money for booking a flu vaccine for kindergarten children. Fan Kung Fu.
"To get a flu vaccine in kindergarten, you must first give a note from the kindergarten, and then go to an app to make an appointment. I want to make an appointment on October 10th at 8:30 on October 12th. There are only eight numbers. I set an alarm at 11:30. , Open the app, about 10 seconds, all the numbers are all grabbed." Yanzi sighed, asking for a flu vaccine is really like buying a train ticket, although you can choose multiple vaccination periods, but 10 seconds, there is no number for each period. Yes, even the number for that afternoon is gone.
Yanzi failed to make an appointment for flu vaccine through an app in Beijing
Under normal circumstances, the cost of vaccination in private medical institutions is more expensive, there are fewer people to vaccinate, and it is easier to make an appointment for vaccination.
But Yanzi contacted two private clinics in Beijing on the same day, and they were both told that they were out of stock.
Yanzi told The Paper that the account manager of one of the clinics said, “Unless a customer buys it and refunds it, I can buy it. I can’t buy it now.”
The Paper randomly consulted 5 private clinics in Shanghai, and they all said that there is no flu vaccine now.
A staff member said on the phone that there are already 2,000 appointments in the queue, and it is no longer possible to guarantee a smooth vaccination. Now it is difficult to queue up for registration. It is recommended that the community and private medical institutions ask more questions.
The staff of another private clinic said that there are currently three to four hundred people in the queue, and appointments are temporarily unavailable.
It is also not easy for individuals to make appointments for influenza vaccines at community health service centers.
Residents in a certain tier city told The Paper that the permanent resident population in the community they live in has reached 250,000, but only 120 places have been allocated to an appointment batch (19 to 59 years old), "make an appointment in the morning, in seconds."
According to public reports, shortages of influenza vaccines have also occurred in Henan, Tianjin, Chongqing, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other provinces and cities.
Wuhan, the center of the new crown epidemic, is also facing a shortage of flu vaccines.
A resident in Hongshan District, Wuhan, said, “I saw community hospitals in the WeChat group of residents at one o’clock in the morning to notify the arrival of the seedlings, but when they arrived at the community hospital at eight o’clock in the morning, they had been told that they would be robbed at seven o’clock in the morning. There will be people queuing up to grab the seedlings after the hour.
Cattle substitute flu vaccine: price doubled
Usually, there are scalpers who can't get an expert number to see a doctor. Now that the flu vaccine is in short supply, the scalpers are also up.
Wang Qing (pseudonym), who lives in Pudong, Shanghai, has been paying attention to influenza vaccine since August, and has been following up with community hospitals, private hospitals and other medical institutions to understand the vaccine situation, but it has entered mid-October and still has not been able to give it. The elderly and children in the family are arranged for vaccines.
In desperation, Wang Qing found the scalper, and finally passed the scalper to get the vaccine at the end of November. The price was doubled compared with the community hospital (350 yuan per injection for adults and 500 yuan for two injections for children).
Wang Qing told reporters that the scalpers guaranteed that the vaccine could be vaccinated within the agreed time, but could not guarantee where the vaccine was vaccinated or from which manufacturer.
The Paper Journalists also contacted merchants that provide flu vaccine reservation purchasing services on e-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Taobao.
Take one of them as an example. The merchant’s process is to first place an order and pay, and then they register the appointment information and organize the information to the relevant hospital.
After the vaccine arrives, staff will be arranged to contact consumers to confirm the final vaccination time.
There are businesses online that provide flu vaccine purchasing services
The merchant stated that it is currently possible to arrange a quota from October to November. The arranged hospitals are all designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each shot of the vaccine is traceable and has a unique vaccine number. You can rest assured .
In the subsequent conversation, the merchant said that the payment order does not mean that the appointment will be 100% successful. It may be due to delays in batch issuance, insufficient distribution of disease control, and unavailability of epidemic control stores, which may make it impossible to vaccinate as scheduled.
However, the other party emphasized that if the appointment is not successful, you can apply for a full refund.
Whether such a contract service is reliable is not known. A staff member of a private medical institution in Shanghai told The Paper that they used to make appointments with some channels for vaccine cooperation, but this year their own customers’ vaccines were not available, and they were temporarily given Not a place for cooperation.