State flu shot law misses flu season

 By Christine Jordan Sexton
2/28/2008 © Florida Health News

TALLAHASSEE – Legislators, who passed a law last year intended to make it easier to get flu shots, are steamed at the Florida Department of Health because it didn't get the law implemented in time for the current flu season. 

The law, which was opposed by the state's doctors, allows pharmacists to administer the shots within certain safeguards. But the state medical boards, which were supposed to collaborate on the educational requirements, dragged their feet, according to the state pharmacy association. 

Sen. Jeff Atwater

Senate President-elect Jeff Atwater, who chairs the Health Regulation Committee, told health department officials at a recent meeting that he was disappointed. The intent of the law was to enable uninsured adults who didn’t have access to primary care doctors to go to a pharmacy and get immunized in the fall – at the latest, by January -- so they'd have protection.   

“This isn’t rocket science,’’ Atwater recently said.  “We missed it.” 

Health department officials told Atwater's committee that it is now moving ahead on implementation, but conceded it may be too late for the current flu season. . The health department provides administrative support to the health professional boards. 

A top official with the Florida Pharmacy Association called the process “agonizingly slow” and put the blame on the state's Board of Medicine, which was required to be consulted, and Board of Osteopathic Medicine, which the pharmacy association voluntarily consulted.  Comment was supposed to be limited to only the educational requirements for giving the shots, said Michael Jackson, executive vice president and CEO of the Florida Pharmacy Association, but he said they debated the same issues that the Florida Medical Association used when it failed to derail the bill last session. 

The flu, more scientifically known as influenza, is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by influenza viruses that is spread through coughs or sneezes. A web site at the Centers for Disease Control says February is the month with the heaviest flu activity, followed by January and December. 

Certain populations are at risk of complications for the flu,  including retirees. Florida lags behind the national average when it comes to vaccinating senior citizens against the flu.  According to 2006 data from the Florida health department, 61.5 percent of adults aged 65 had been vaccinated;  the national average was 69.6 percent. 

To raise the immunization rate, legislators passed the bill to allow pharmacists to administer flu vaccines to adults. Only pharmacists who carry $200,000 in medical malpractice insurance and take 20 hours of continuing education courses will be authorized to administer the vaccines. Moreover, a pharmacist also must enter written agreements with physicians or a county health department before being allowed to administer the shots.
 
Both the boards registered concerns with the rule, mostly about quality of care, a review of board minutes show. A  Board of Medicine subcommittee complained that the rule didn’t require the pharmacist to communicate with a primary caregiver. The subcommittee also suggested the rule require the pharmacist to provide the patient with information regarding adverse reactions. 

 None of the recommendations, however, are included in the final rule that the Florida Department of Health hopes will become effective the end of this month. 

  Jackson said pharmacies are reluctant to order flu vaccines for next season without the rule being in place and assurances that pharmacists will be allowed to administer the shot. 

 “Many of our pharmacies out there have to order flu shots for the flu season now because we can’t wait for the summer time to do that,” he said.

FHN Tallahassee correspondent Christine Jordan Sexton can be reached at cjordansexton@hotmail.com.