CDC, major vaccine manufacturers ramp up production of flu shots as the US braces for the potential simultaneous impact of the coronavirus and the seasonal flu

• Major vaccine manufactures are planning to make millions more flu vaccine doses ahead of the fall amid mounting concern from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
• Vaccine manufacturers are planning to boost production of flu shots by about 10%, making 189 million flu shots in comparison to 170 million last year, The Washington Post reported.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also made an "unprecedented" purchase of 7 million flu vaccine doses for adults — 14 times more than the average purchase for a flu season.
• "We want to take flu off the table, in every way possible, make flu a non-factor," LJ Tan, chief strategy officer of the Immunization Action Coalition, told The Post.

Major vaccine manufacturers are ramping up production of flu vaccine doses ahead of flu season as they brace for increased demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post reported.

Flu vaccine producers are planning to increase production by about 10 percent, making about 19 million more doses in comparison to last year, according to The Post report. Manufacturers are anticipating to produce about 189 million doses ahead of the flu season, compared to 170 million last fall.

"We want to take flu off the table, in every way possible, make flu a non-factor," LJ Tan, chief strategy officer of the Immunization Action Coalition, told The Post.

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Post that the agency plans to buy 7 million flu vaccine doses for adults — 14 times more than the average purchase for a flu season, which is 500,000.

The CDC initially requested $700 million from Congress to buy 50 million doses for adults but was ultimately denied, The Post reported. Officials told the publication that the agency has spent $100 million.

Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told The Post that the increased acquisition of flu shots is "certainly unprecedented in recent memory."

According to the CDC, it is possible to be infected with the seasonal flu and COVID-19 at the same time, but it is not immediately clear what the interaction between the two diseases is.

Only a third of Americans got a flu shot last year, but with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic likely overlapping with the upcoming flu season, government and health officials anticipate that more people might seek them out this fall, The Post reported.

Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir reiterated the need for more flu vaccine doses to the House during a Tuesday hearing, recommending that the US has "enough flu vaccine to get everybody vaccinated this winter."

"That's one less virus that could kill 20, 30, 50,000, 70,000 [people] and potentially even be a co-infection with COVID," Giroir said.