The Chiron Corporation announced Tuesday it will not ship its supply of flu vaccines, which will likely cause a nationwide shortage and make the vaccine almost unavailable on campus.

Robert Palinkus, director of McKinley Health Center, said that while the announcement will have a definite impact, national health officials are already planning their response.

“It’ll have a very significant impact on the whole nation,” Palinkus said. “Right now, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is trying to come up with a plan. There will be a significant national shortage. It’s fairly likely they’ll suggest to ration the vaccine.”

Palinkus said the CDC will likely recommend to limit immunizations to high risk individuals, people who have underlying chronic ailments that can make the flu much more dangerous.

“The CDC is going to recommend the nation not immunize healthy, normal adults,” Palinkus said. “Since most of the campus is consisted of healthy, normal adults the average person on campus will not receive the vaccine this year.”

Palinkus also said McKinley and other community health centers will have to re-examine their plans for the fall.

“We are looking at our strategies,” he said. “We’ll be working in a coordinated effort with all the health care providers in Champaign County. Almost all of the plans for vaccinations in town will need to be re-evaluated. You can’t set up the normal vaccine outreach program that we have this time of year.”

According to an Associated Press report, Chiron announced it would not provide the vaccine after British authorities suspended its license. The suspension, which lasts for three months, was caused by problems in Chiron’s vaccine manufacturing plant in Liverpool, England, and prevents the company from shipping any vaccines.

British officials didn’t explain the details of the suspension, and U.S. health officials were surprised by the announcement, the AP report said.

“We need to regroup,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institute of Health’s infectious disease chief.

Chiron had planned to ship 46 million to 48 million doses, the AP reported, but that had already been delayed by a contamination discovered at the same factory in August. About one million doses had already been shipped, but those doses will not be made available.

Howard Pien, president and chief executive of Chiron, refused to identify the problem with the vaccine, but said, “It relates to what amounted to human error in a relatively late step in a fairly complicated series of manufacturing procedures.”

“Chiron deeply regrets that we will be unable to meet public health needs this season,” Pien said. “What happened was unexpected.”