Because of limited supplies and manufacturing problems, it may be hard for people to get a flu vaccine in DeKalb this winter.

The Chiron Corporation, one of the four manufacturers responsible for providing the flu vaccine to the U.S. population, announced it would not be able to produce as much vaccine as it anticipated originally. This has caused local distributors who ordered from the company to receive fewer vaccines than expected.

Karen Grush, administrator for the DeKalb Health Department, said the department had to put restrictions on who is able to get the flu vaccine at the facility. The vaccines will be not administered to adults and only are available for children.

“I think you can certainly consider it a shortage because you have people who want the vaccine who can’t have it,” Grush said. “Every health department in the state of Illinois is in the same situation.”

Even though it wasn’t expected that DeKalb would have a shortage, Grush said manufacturers will have all the vaccines needed in January and February, but thinks there will be not as high of a demand as there is now.

“Up until last year we had an ample supply of the vaccine,” Grush said.

The DeKalb County Health Department is expecting not to receive any more vaccines for residents because already it exceeded the 2,300 vaccines allowed by the government.

Grush said increased demand could be caused from the bird flu getting media attention.

“I think the result of media coverage of the avian flu has caused more people to be interested in the vaccine, but it does nothing to protect a person from avian flu,” Grush said.

Other locations that have stopped or limited offering flu shots include Kishwaukee Community Hospital – which only is offering vaccines to employees – and pharmacies in the area, such as Walgreens Drug Store, 100 W. Lincoln Highway.

“Vaccines haven’t been available here since two years ago, and last year it was a joke. We couldn’t get it because it was nowhere to be found,” said Joe Smulkaitis, a pharmacist at Medical Arts Pharmacy, 625 Bethany Road.

Smulkaitis said it is harder for retail stores to get the vaccine for the public.

“As a retailer, I’m the last on the pecking order to get vaccines,” Smulkaitis said. He believes this is because of government control over flu vaccines.

“The government hoards [vaccine] amounts that go into storage,” he said “I would say roughly 40 percent of it never reaches the general public.”

If vaccines are not used within the year it is made, they expire because each vaccine is formulated for seasonal changes.

Smulkaitis said he blames the shortage on the government not handling the manufacturers correctly.

“I think there is a shortage because of the government’s stupidity and how they are not holding manufacturers to any liabilities.”

Even though the DeKalb Health Department and other areas have restricted its distribution of flu vaccines, NIU students are still able to get vaccinated at NIU Health Services for a fee of $15. Patients of the DeKalb Clinic also are given the option to have a flu shot.

Last week, 71 million doses were distributed, and the CDC expects 81 to 83 million doses to be distributed by the end of this month.

Influenza vaccines, the majority of which are made from inactivated influenza strains, are updated each year to address changes in the viruses and improve effectiveness.

“It’s an antiquated, long procedure because they don’t always know what virus to target,” Grush said.