Florida Companies Accused Of Price Gouging Flu Vaccine

Several drug distribution companies in Florida are accused of price gouging the flu vaccine, according to a Local 6 News investigation. Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said some distribution companies are charging more than $700 for a vial of flu vaccine that would normally sell for $85. "The most egregious one we've received involves a company in Broward County where they've increased the price by almost 900 percent over what it would ordinarily be," Crist said. A Florida-based company, Med-Stats, is now the subject of a lawsuit filed by the attorney general's office in Kansas, Local 6 News has learned. Florida will likely file a similar lawsuit Wednesday, according to the report. "The obvious concern we have is, No. 1, people don't get the medicine they need to be vaccinated from the flu," Crist said. "No. 2., if somebody's trying to take advantage of them, with a situation like this, it's a violation of the law." There have been other scattered reports of price gouging in Florida since the shortage was announced. "We've gotten five of them now, three regarding businesses on the east coast, and two on the west coast of Florida," Crist said. Regulators shut down a vaccine plant in England on Oct. 5, halting shipment of millions of vaccine doses to the United States and creating a shot shortage.

(Local 6 article here)