ALBANY, N.Y. -- The chairman of the state Senate's health committee called Friday for a review of New York's price-gouging law because of doubts the statute can be used against flu vaccine price-gougers.

The law was designed to prevent people from capitalizing on an emergency by charging exorbitant prices for the necessities of life, such as drinking water, food or fuel. Emergencies have been understood to mean natural disasters like blizzards or times of extreme upheaval such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, said Darren Dopp, spokesman for Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

  Sen. Kemp Hannon, a Long Island Republican, said "there is a question as to whether the current statute is sufficient to cover" vaccine price gouging.

"It seems to be written to deal with the sale of gasoline or something like that," said Hannon. "Is a patient a consumer?"

But Hannon, who announced he would hold public hearings on the potential for price gouging of vaccinations in New York, said he has no doubt that the current shortage of vaccine doses is a public health threat akin to those encountered during disasters.

"When you have the sudden loss of 50 percent of the nation's vaccine supply, I would say that comes as close to an emergency as you're going to get," Hannon said. "When we have done everything as a government to encourage people to get vaccinated and now many cannot, that's an emergency."

The Republican legislator also said he wants to review state law to see if the current procedures, where the state attorney general gets the authority to pursue price-gouging cases after they are referred by local authorities, is the best vehicle for going after such violators.

Hannon said he had heard of at least two instances where Long Island hospitals reported being offered vaccines for sale at what appeared to be inflated prices.

He announced the Senate hearings at the public library in Farmingdale where a flu shot clinic planned for 800 people Friday had to be canceled because of the vaccine shortage.

Meanwhile Friday, the state Consumer Protection Board said it had set up a toll-free number (1-800-697-1220) for New Yorkers to report suspected cases of price gouging and other irregularities concerning the distribution of vaccine.

No calls had been received on the line as of Friday afternoon, Consumer Protection Board spokesman Jon Sorensen said. People could also report complaints on the agency's Web site at www.nysconsumer.gov, Sorensen said.

It would be "unconscionable" to inflate the price of vaccine to take advantage of a shortage, said state Health Department spokesman Rob Kenny. The department intends to pursue cases of apparent price gouging "to the fullest extent of the law," according to Kenny, who said he was not familiar with the questions raised about whether the gouging law can be applied to the sale of flu vaccine.

The health department reiterated that hospitals that fail to give flu shots to the most at-risk groups will be investigated and may be fined and doctors who do not follow federal regulations for giving flu shots may be investigated by the State Office of Professional Medical Conduct.

The shortage of vaccine was caused when the British government suspended a manufacturer's operating license and prohibited it from shipping tens of millions of doses that had been ordered for this flu season by health care providers in the United States.