CHICAGO – Gov. Rod Blagojevich this morning announced that his administration has located and placed an order to purchase an additional 200,000 doses of the Aventis flu vaccine from wholesalers in Europe; 80,000 doses have been guaranteed and 120,000 more is expected to be available.  On Monday, the Governor announced that Illinois had procured between 62,000 and 87,000 doses of the vaccine through a British wholesaler and had asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for fast approval to ship and use the shots for the state’s most at-risk senior citizens and young children.  With today’s announcement, Illinois is poised to purchase nearly 300,000 doses of European-made flu vaccine to address this year’s severe shortage.

And, of course, he can’t resist a plug for his new program.

Gov. Blagojevich was able to quickly find the European vaccine using the state’s contacts with prescription drug suppliers in Europe who are providing medications for Illinois residents through the new I-SaveRx program.  Blagojevich and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle launched I-SaveRx to help the nearly 13 million residents of Illinois and more than 5 million residents of Wisconsin save 25 to 50 percent on the cost of their prescription drugs.  Illinois and Wisconsin residents can enroll in I-Save Rx by calling 1-866-ISAVE33 or visiting www.I-SaveRx.net.