A shortage of a new vaccine against shingles has led to waiting lists of New Yorkers desperate to get the shots.
The Shingrix vaccine is at least 90 percent effective in warding off shingles, a painful rash that can erupt decades after childhood chicken pox.
The vaccine is supposed to be given on a two-shot schedule, with the second dose coming between two and six months after the first.
“It’s completely unavailable,” said Phil Zam, the supervising pharmacist at Zitomer on the Upper East Side. “We keep being told that the demand will be met over the next couple of weeks, but
that report started several months ago.”
Zam said the pharmacy has a waiting list of about 70 people.
At an Upper West Side pharmacy, some 100 people are on the waiting list and a pharmacist said the shop fields up to 10 calls a day asking for the vaccine.
“Got the first Shingrix vaccine and now I’m about 2 weeks away from the outside recommended time for the 2nd. The problem is there are none to be found. Why market the crap out of the drug if you can’t supply it? Now what? Do I have to get vaccine one again? NOT COOL,” an angry New Yorker tweeted to vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline this month.
GlaxoSmithKline began selling Shingrix in November 2017 but did not anticipate the huge demand, said Dr. Gordon Ngai, director of research and education for Mount Sinai Urgent Care.
He called Shingrix a “blockbuster” that was far better than the existing shingles shot, which was made with a live virus.
“It’s safer,” he said. “It’s more effective.”
About one million people a year come down with shingles with the risk increasing after the age of 50. The new vaccine is recommended even for those who have had the older one.
The CDC is not advising people to start over if they can’t get a second shot of Shingrix within six months, but rather to try to get it as soon as possible.
GlaxoSmithKline said that beginning this month it was shipping large volumes of the vaccine twice a month rather than every two to three weeks.
“For 2019, we plan to bring significantly more doses to the US compared to 2018,” a spokesman said.
It said 7 million doses of Shringrix had been given globally by the end of September, most in the US.