The government’s stock of chicken pox vaccine may only last until the end of July, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Sunday.
Given the shortage of the vaccine, the CDC pushed back the recommended age for immunization from a year old to 15 months and is now contemplating delaying it further, to 18 months, if the centers fail to secure more supplies by July.
In the past, the government would source its chicken pox vaccines from two pharmaceutical companies.
Because one of the firms ceased production last year, the centers have experienced a shortage, CDC deputy director Chou Chih-hao (周志浩) said.
In addition, the price of vaccine this year increased two to three-fold and the center’s budget for vaccines is reviewed only once a year.
The center has been left scrambling for funds while continuing to allocate available vaccines, Chou said.
Since epidemics of chicken pox usually occur during cold weather, the delay should cause no major problems as the weather is turning increasingly warm, National Taiwan University Hospital pediatrician Huang Li-min (黃立民) said.
However, Huang said that parents should help their children get the vaccine before their second birthday, as the antibodies that mothers transfer to their babies start to diminish after the children turn one.
In addition, the older a child contracts chicken pox, the higher his or her risk of succumbing to comorbid encephalitis, pneumonia and hepatitis, he said.
Huang warned that while the warmer weather may be helpful in containing a possible outbreak, there have still been reports of several group cases in central and southern Taiwan lately.
In response, Chou said that while there have been reports of several individual cases, the condition could not be considered an epidemic.
About 200,000 people contract chicken pox every year, which coincides with the number of newborns in the country.
Most people contract chicken pox during their lifetime.
The disease is most commonly seen in preschool children, because students at that age are in contact with a large group of peers and therefore transmit the disease easily.
In view of the shortage of public supplies, more and more parents have said they were willing to pay for their children’s immunization at private clinics.
The CDC warned, however, that clinics were also facing limited supplies.
The CDC estimated that even self-paid stock would be exhausted within the next two months.
A private pediatrician said that the normally unpopular shots were surprisingly in high demand this year because of the shortage of public supplies.
Chou said that while public supplies would last only until July, the center was exerting all effort to source more stock before supply runs out.
He also advised parents of children under a year old who may be under risk of infection to consider getting paid vaccines.
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