Supplies of the only U.S.-licensed yellow fever vaccine will be depleted by mid-2017 due to a manufacturing issue, reports the CDC in its most recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Here are three things to know.
1. Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines unit of Sanofi, manufactures the U.S. yellow fever vaccine. While the drugmaker did not share specific details on the shortage, the CDC cited a manufacturing complication that caused the company to lose a large amount of doses as it was relocating to a new manufacturing plant. Sanofi plans to open a new facility to resume production of the vaccine in mid-2018.
2. Sanofi is working with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to import a similar yellow fever vaccine from the drugmaker's French division in the wake of the shortage. The FDA granted Sanofi permission to import the drug through an "expanded access" provision, which allows an unapproved drug to be used by the general public — not just those in clinical trials — during emergency situations, reports The Washington Post.
3. While the French vaccine, which the FDA still considered an investigational drug, is unlicensed in the U.S., it's already used in more than 70 other countries and is believed to have a similar safety and efficacy as the U.S. version, according to The Washington Post.
3. Due to the complexity of importing and monitoring use of the French vaccine under the FDA's expanded access provision, the amount of U.S. clinics offering a yellow fever vaccine will drop from about 4,000 to 250, according to the CDC.
To view a list of clinics offering the new vaccine, click here.
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