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County still awaits flu vaccine
Staff Writer Crow Wing County Public Health is expecting to receive several hundred doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine Friday, a county health official said Wednesday.
If this occurs, a H1N1 immunization clinic will be scheduled as early as Monday for children ages 6 months to 4 years and parents and caregivers of infants 6 months and younger.
"We have our fingers crossed," Joyce Mueller, a Crow Wing County Public Health nurse said, of receiving the vaccine shipment. "We are hoping to get some vaccine this week."
Mueller said the county will hopefully receive 300 doses of the injectable vaccine and 500 doses of the FluMist by Friday. Some of the injectable vaccines will be distributed to Central Lakes Medical Clinic in Crosby for the clinic's medically fragile children; Brainerd Medical Center already has some vaccine that is being given to its medically fragile child patients, said Mueller. The injectable vaccines also will be used for pregnant health care workers in both Crosby and Brainerd.
Mueller said the remaining vaccines will be given to children ages 6 months to 4 years and parents and caregivers of infants 6 months and younger at a clinic planned on Monday. She said public health and area health care officials from Brainerd and Crosby will be meeting Thursday morning to work out the specifics, including how people may sign up their children or obtain appointments for this H1N1 flu clinic. A person does not need to live in Crow Wing County to receive the vaccine.
Check the Brainerd Dispatch - online Thursday and in print Friday - for more information as it develops after Thursday's meeting.
"We're trying to use the vaccine as timely as possible," said Mueller. "We want to get kids to one site."
Mueller said public health officials will concentrate their efforts on vaccinating young children because they are in a high-risk group and the type of injectable vaccine the county hopes to receive Friday is designated for people 6 months and older. Other vaccine shipments the county may receive in the future will include vaccines specifically for use for older children and adults.
Mueller said the county will try to give the FluMist nasal spray to as many healthy children ages 2-4 and parents and caregivers of infants 6 months and younger at this clinic as possible, saving the injectable vaccine for those who cannot get the FluMist.
"We're getting such a small amount we're trying to be careful about what groups we're getting it out to," said Mueller. "We're encouraging anybody who can get the FluMist, who fits in this category, that they save the injectable vaccine for pregnant women and children who can't get the FluMist."
Mueller said the county also hopes to get another shipment of H1N1 vaccine sometime next week and will then schedule a clinic specifically for pregnant women. The medical clinics in Brainerd and Crosby also will receive some of the H1N1 injectable vaccines for their pregnant patients from this shipment as well, she said. Mueller said both the Crosby and Brainerd hospitals have been giving the H1N1 FluMist vaccine to new parents after they have the baby and before mother and baby are discharged from the hospital.
Mueller noted that it is recommended that children 9 years and younger receive two H1N1 vaccinations at least a month apart. After pregnant women, the county will then attempt to open up vaccinations for 5- to 18-year-olds as part of Phase 1 of this initial roll out of the vaccine, although it depends on vaccine availability.
"We're all aware the vaccine is being distributed at a much slower pace than we had hoped," said Mueller. "We're going to try to take a bite at a time and hopefully we'll get more soon."
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
Metro clinic stops taking flu-shot appointments
ST. LOUIS PARK (AP) - A suburban Minneapolis clinic says demand for the swine-flu vaccine is so great that the clinic is no longer accepting appointments for the vaccine.
Park Nicollet Clinic is asking the public to stop sending e-mail requests for H1N1 vaccine appointments. On Monday, the clinic shut down its flu-shot hot line after it was flooded with 120,000 phone calls in four hours.
The clinic announced last week that it had received 17,000 doses of swine flu vaccine. Park Nicollet was among the first 150 clinics in Minnesota to receive supplies of the vaccine.
Because the vaccine is in short supply nationwide, Minnesota officials are distributing supplies by lottery to clinics around the state.
Swine flu vaccine outlook improving, CDC says
ATLANTA (AP) - More than 22 million doses of swine flu vaccine are available now, and most Americans should soon find it easier to get their dose, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.
"We're beginning to get to significant increases in the availability," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a briefing.
Last week there were just 14 million doses on hand, despite initial predictions that as many as 120 million would be ready by mid-October. The government later slashed that estimate to 45 million. The slow supply trickle has frustrated Americans, who have stood in line for hours in some parts of the country.
The shortage has probably increased demand, Frieden said.
"It's quite likely that too little vaccine is one of the things that's making people more interested in getting vaccinated, frankly. When we have shortages, we see an increase in demand," he said.
The vaccine is grown in eggs in a reliable but slow process, and smaller amounts of it were being produced per egg than expected. There were other snags, too, but health officials say manufacturers have overcome most of those and are making the vaccine more speedily.
Over time, the government expects to have as many as 225 million doses of the new vaccine if needed.
Swine-flu telecommuters may clog Web networks
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - As the spread of the H1N1 flu keeps more Americans away from work and school, a federal report warns that all those people logging on to the Web from home could overwhelm Internet networks.
The Government Accountability Office reported earlier this week that if the flu reaches a pandemic, a surge in telecommuting and children accessing video files and games at home could bog down local networks.
If that were to happen, it is unclear whether the federal government is prepared for the problem, the GAO said.
The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of communications networks during times of national emergency. But it has no strategy to deal with overloaded Internet networks - an essential resource to keep the economy humming, and residents informed and connected during a pandemic, the GAO said. Furthermore, the DHS hasn't coordinated with agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission to create guidelines for how telecom, cable and satellite providers can minimize congestion.
Such confusion "would increase the risk that the federal government will not be able to respond rapidly or effectively if a pandemic quickly emerges," the GAO reported.
Price affects interest in vaccine
Los Angeles Times
A study being published in Wednesday's edition of the British Medical Journal finds that the higher the price for the swine flu shot, the lower the odds that people will get it. For instance, three times as many people said they would get a free shot as would get one that cost more than $25.
The results are based on a survey conducted in Hong Kong, whose recent experience with severe acute respiratory syndrome and H5N1 bird flu arguably give the general public a heightened sensitivity to outbreaks of novel viruses. Even so, only 45 percent of those surveyed said they would be "highly likely" to get an H1N1 flu shot if it was available for free.
Interest in the vaccine fell steadily from there. A modest price of up to 100 Hong Kong dollars (about $12.90 in U.S. currency) was enough to knock interest in the shot down to 36 percent; a price between 100 and 200 Hong Kong dollars reduced it to 24 percent; and anything above 200 Hong Kong dollars dropped it to 15 percent, the study found.
Price wasn't the only factor standing between people and the H1N1 vaccine. Twenty-seven percent of the people surveyed said the shot would be "inconvenient," and 16 percent complained that it would cause too many side effects, including "very severe" ones. (In reality, the CDC says side effects are rare.)
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