Claudette Newman planned to get her seasonal influenza shot at the end of October, but she found out this week she’s too late. 

“They just ran out, I guess,” the 77-year-old Rapid City woman said.

Clinics throughout the Black Hills report they’ve already run out of the seasonal flu vaccine, and most say they don’t expect to get more.

“We didn’t have enough to meet our need,” said Heather Quasney, clinic director at Medical Arts Clinic in Rapid City. “There’s just no more to get. We can’t get it from our distributor. We don’t know of any place that has any.”

Medicap Pharmacy had a seasonal vaccine clinic last week; they administered 130 doses. It went fast, said Lisa Wipf, a pharmacy tech at the Westside store.

“We had people lined up out the doors Friday morning,” she said. Medicap doesn’t expect to get more doses.

Dana Darger, pharmacy director at Rapid City Regional Hospital, said Regional clinics and hospitals are also out of the vaccine, for now.

Black Hills Pediatrics and Neonatology ran out of seasonal vaccines for children age 36 months and older about a week ago. They only have vaccine for children younger than three years.

“We’ve contacted the state requesting more,” said Dean Hass, office manager at Black Hills Pediatrics. “They can’t give us an idea when we’ll get more.”

South Dakota Health Secretary Doneen Hollingsworth said most clinics order seasonal vaccinations directly from the distributors, and she doesn’t know what distributors are telling clinics. She said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it will distribute more seasonal flu vaccines later in the season, perhaps in December.

“They are calling it a delay,” Hollingsworth said.

The Department of Health purchases some seasonal flu vaccine each year for children ages six months to 18 years for the South Dakota Child Flu Vaccine Initiative. Hollingsworth said providers who participate in that initiative may still have vaccines available for children in that age range. 

There will also be seasonal influenza shots available to children ages six months to 18 years during a free H1N1 clinic held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at Rapid City Central High School.

Darger said Regional Health ordered about 20,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine from three manufacturers and has received 70 percent of that order so far. Manufacturers expect to deliver the remainder of that order between Thanksgiving and Christmas, he said.  

Darger said the seasonal flu usually peaks in South Dakota in February and early March. People who get their shots during the Thanksgiving/Christmas window will still get protection for that season.

Local providers believe the emphasis on H1N1 vaccine probably caused the shortage of seasonal flu shots by dividing the attention of manufactures.

“They were in the middle of making seasonal flu vaccination … and let’s just say they were ‘incentivized’ to produce H1N1 instead,” Darger said. “Now they’ll finish up with seasonal flu for this year.”

That explanation doesn’t make it any easier for Newman and others like her who will have to wait.

Marie Seniuk lost her husband six weeks ago, during the time she normally would have gotten her shot. When things settled down after his death, Seniuk, who is 80, found she missed the window. It makes her nervous to think about her risks if she doesn’t get the vaccine. 

“It just seems insane we don’t have any vaccine in November, and that’s when we usually get it,” she said. “It really scares me.”

Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8414.