Community H1N1 Vaccination Clinic Postponed
BELLINGHAM, WA—The first community 2009 H1N1 vaccination clinic, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 22 at the St. Luke’s Community Health Education Center, has been postponed due to a delay in production of the vaccine. Other planned clinics may also need to be rescheduled. By the end of this week, more will be known about vaccine supplies and new clinics will be scheduled.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on October 16 that shipments of the H1N1 vaccine will be slower to arrive in local communities than originally hoped. Vaccine manufacturers have been unable to produce the vaccine as quickly as they had anticipated.
Regina Delahunt, Director of the Whatcom County Health Department and one of three local Incident Commanders, said, “Eventually everybody who wants an H1N1 vaccination will be able to receive one. However, due to the limited initial shipments of the vaccine, the community really needs to pull together to assure that the first to be vaccinated are those at greatest risk for H1N1 complications.”
As a result of the reduced vaccine supply the first priority H1N1 vaccination groups have been modified based on CDC guidelines and will be limited to: pregnant women, health care workers and emergency medical personnel with direct patient contact, household contacts of infants less than 6 months of age, children ages 6 months to 5 years, children ages 5 years to 18 years with medical conditions (such as asthma, heart disease, immune disorders, or neurological conditions) that put them at risk for flu complications.
Once these priority groups have been vaccinated the priority group will be expanded to include other health care workers, all children and young adults 5-24 years old, and individuals 25-64 years of age with high risk medical conditions.
The CDC reports that eventually all requests for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine will be filled, but due to production delays, some communities may not receive the entire supply requested until late November.
The new influenza has similar symptoms to the seasonal flu. Because most people are not immune, H1N1 can spread rapidly and the concern is that so many people will become sick at one time that schools, services and businesses could be disrupted.
According to the CDC, vaccination is the best method to avoid becoming sick with the flu. Transmission can also be reduced by staying home if one is sick, washing hands thoroughly and often, and covering coughs and sneezes.
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