Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which makes Prevnar, was updating its Pearl River, N.Y., plant and that led to a slowdown of vaccine production earlier this year at the facility, where vials are filled once the vaccine is made at another facility. The United States was left without sufficient amounts of the vaccine until September.

Profitability is clearly a problem. The government pays $51.58 for a single dose of Prevnar - and only four doses are needed to immunize a child - but over a lifetime, a patient will pay thousands of dollars for drugs that lower cholesterol. Prevnar is considered an expensive vaccine; the government pays only about $7 for the flu shot and $16.25 per dose for the combination vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and German measles.

1) Newsday photo/Dick Yarwood-Dr. Shoshana Wind, of Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park, gives a flu vaccine to 9-month-old Miryam Atik of Flushing on Thursday. 2) AP Photo- Merck's Rahway, N.J., facility; renovations at a filling plant caused some vaccine shortages. 3) Newsday Photo/Dick Yarwood-Dr. [Lorry Rubin] 4) Photo By Lee S. WeissmanMary [Mary Beth Koslap-Petraco] said New York State requires schoolchildren to receive 10 childhood vaccines.; Kids' Vaccines At Risk. Production problems have caused periodic shortages, prompting fears of a childhood immunization crisis. AP Cover Photo - Katie Roskam of Littleton, Colo., gets a vaccination from nurse Bernadette Loya earlier this year. (Cover; Bulldog Cover)