Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota's largest provider of flu shots said on Wednesday that it has acquired 81,500 doses of flu vaccine.
The nonprofit Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency said it would administer the doses to people at high risk from the flu -- generally, pregnant women, those older than 65, and people with certain chronic conditions. The shots will cost $16 each.
The group got 68,000 doses of the vaccines from the national Visiting Nurse Associations of America and another 13,500 from grocery retailer Supervalu Inc. The state Health Department has been urging companies to vaccinate only high-risk employees and to share leftover vaccine.
The MVNA planned to administer the shots at eight sites around the Twin Cities area beginning today and distribute some to public health workers in outstate Minnesota, too.
ADVERTISEMENT
MVNA chief executive Mary Ann Blade said her group is working with the Health Department to send the vaccine where it's needed.
She said the doses represent about 55 percent of what her group thought it would get before the vaccine shortage hit. "We're still in a shortfall but not as much," she said.
Kris Ehresmann, who heads the state's immunization program, said the state is still short by about 250,000 doses of the vaccine.
"It certainly doesn't meet all the need, but it's certainly very positive," she said.
