GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: In news for medicine: the price for a flu shot is expected to rise dramatically in this country. Some blame supply and demand, others say it is price gouging. Here is Elizabeth Cohen with a report.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, take a deep breath in, blow out.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In past years, clinics that supply flu shots paid about $30 per vial for the vaccine, but this year...</s>DR. ART MOLLEN, CLINIC OPERATOR: The prices are up to almost $100 in various places. Now, some of the distributors are raising their price because it's obviously a great commodity right now.</s>COHEN: Due to a slow-growing strain of the flu vaccine, manufacturers are taking longer to get shots out on the market. Dr. Art Mollen, who operates flu shot clinics in Arizona, says distributors are taking advantage of this.</s>MOLLEN: There's a tremendous amount of price gouging that's going on with this vaccine right now.</s>COHEN: Distributors we spoke to declined to talk on camera, but one said: "Given the severity of the shortage, market prices have gone up. It's just supply and demand." Some vaccine providers say they will be passing the price increase on to consumers. Distributors say they have to charge more, because manufacturers are charging them more. The sole distributor for Mediva Pharmaceuticals says they have upped their prices from about $30 per vial to about $50. But the two other companies that make flu vaccine in the U.S., Aventis Pasteur and Wyafare (ph), say they have not raised their prices. The Food and Drug Administration says vaccine pricing is entirely up to the private sector. The agency doesn't set or regulate prices. (on camera): Manufacturers are still producing flu vaccine and each week more is due out on the market. One distributor says that means in time, the price will come down. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
Price of Flu Shots Expected to Rise Dramatically in U.S.