America’s supply of the flu vaccine has been cut in half after Chiron Corp., a supplier that manufactures half of the U.S. flu vaccine, shut down after it experienced contamination problems at its Liverpool facility. Federal health officials put a halt on the import of Chiron’s vaccine, named Fluvirin, after learning that the British government suspended Chiron’s license.

As a result, the U.S. is now short 48 million shots, and the government only has 54 million vaccinations on hand, which were manufactured by Aventis Pasteur. Chiron and Aventis were the only companies with license to produce the U.S. supply. With half the nation’s flu shots absent, the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention limited the criteria for receiving the vaccination.

The revised CDC guidelines recommend that vaccinations only be given to “high risk” individuals, including young children, adults over the age of 65, pregnant women and individuals with chronic diseases.

Many doctor’s offices and agencies with supplies of the flu shot have been cited for price gauging violations, running the price for a single vaccination to nearly $100 in some instances. A small town in New Jersey instituted a lottery system in order to allocate its extremely limited flu shot supply to its large elderly population. Some Americans have even crossed into Canada, where there is no shortage, to receive the annual vaccination.

Shannon Deal, director of UTM Student Health, said that “under normal circumstances,” college students living in residence halls would be considered high-risk and should get the shot.

“Unfortunately, the CDC narrowed its guidelines, and healthy students who do not fall into their guidelines should not get the shot.” In past years, Student Health has urged UTM students to get the vaccinations.

“We had gotten quite a few doses before the CDC mandate, but now we’re out,” Deal said. However, Deal did say that students with underlying medical conditions should seek out the shot. Student health received 230 doses of Aventis’s Fluzone at the beginning of September, but scaled back itsadministration after the government revised the guidelines. They are now completely out. Student Health was slated to receive 600 more doses, but that shipment has been halted because the CDC says that Student Health does not service a “high risk” population.

Instead of seeking vaccination against the flu, health officials recommend practicing traditional prevention techniques for college students, including frequent hand washing, avoiding contact with those who are sick, and staying home when infected.

A flu treatment called Tamiflu can be taken after symptoms begin or while family members are affected.

The flu kills more than 36,000 Americans annually, and many scientists predict this year’s flu strain could be worse than usual.