L.,
Hang in there! Even for pediatricians, it's a mind boggling challenge to pre-book vaccine 6-9 months in advance, "guess" how many doses to order, order some of each kind made AND THEN...wait and see what and how much the manufacturers are willing to ship you.
Your pediatrician ordered plenty of vaccine, I suspect, but is expected to be happy with whatever they are shipped in whatever amounts arrive.
Your pearl in my reply is this...THOSE DOSES FOR CHILDREN 3 AND OLDER COULD WORK FOR YOUR CHILD. A child under 3 receives 0.25cc of vaccine. Call and ask if you could have that dose from the multidose vials that your doctor has on hand. Multidose vials contain TRACE amounts of thimerosol but thimerosol does not cause autism, as many have insisted.
Lastly, write to SANOFI (one of the largest manufacturers of flu vaccine) and tell them that the way they ship vaccine is unacceptable. Call for more transparancy in who they ship and sell vaccine to. Only then will the "supply problems" end.
Dr. S.
PS. This season, production of H1N1 vaccine did complicate the whole thing, but the "running out" issue is not new and needs addressing today.