FLU SHOTS New doses of vaccine expected

Reports indicate a light to normal flu season in the Mahoning Valley so far.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Additional flu vaccine is expected to begin arriving at public health departments in the Mahoning Valley in about two weeks.
But the number of doses, whether there will be enough to vaccinate everyone who still wants a shot, or even whether all departments will get more vaccine, is undetermined, according to local public health officials.
The new doses, part of a batch of 8 million to be distributed nationwide, are coming just in time as area public health departments either have -- or are about to -- run out of the vaccine, according to officials.
Matthew Stefanak, Mahoning County District Board of Health commissioner, said his department, after giving shots on several days, has only about 20 adult doses left.
The Youngstown City Health Department is offering the vaccine Monday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at its offices at 345 Oak Hill Ave. in Youngstown.
Other health departments, such as Girard's and Niles', are completely out of vaccine, and the city of Warren has just a few doses remaining.
Trumbull County Health Department officials expected to be out of vaccine after shot clinics Friday in Hubbard and Brookfield.
Columbiana County Health Department officials could not be reached to comment.
No major outbreak
Fortunately, based on data from around the country and the area, there isn't a lot of influenza as yet, said Neil Altman, Youngstown health commissioner.
"If there's good news during a vaccine shortage, it's a slow flu season," he said.
"We track pneumonia and flu fatalities, and at the moment the number of deaths is normal," said Matthew Stefanak, Mahoning County District Board of Health commissioner.
The Ohio Department of Health, through which the new vaccine will be distributed in Ohio, was informed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Nov. 8 that 8 million additional doses will be distributed nationally.
The ODH was also told how many doses Ohio will receive. However, it is at the discretion of ODH whether to reveal that number, according to a memo to local health departments from Patrick M. Libbey, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officers.
Accordingly, the ODH has opted not to tell the general public or the local health departments in advance how many doses they will receive, according to ODH spokesman Kristopher Weiss.
Distribution planning
Weiss said ODH is working on a plan for distribution of the vaccine. He said the first of several shipments are expected to begin arriving in a couple of weeks.
Weiss said ODH continues to encourage public health departments to screen for high-risk individuals and to encourage healthy younger adults to forgo the shot.
ODH originally bought 260,000 doses of flu vaccine, which were distributed to local health departments.
Also earlier in the year, ODH ordered 100,000 doses of federal vaccine for children for Ohio, which has not yet arrived, Weiss said.
However, Altman said, most of the vaccine for the children's program goes to private physicians and not to public health organizations.
According to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, state and local health officials and the CDC have worked together to assure that all available vaccine is allocated as fairly as possible across the nation.
Jointly, they developed a formula that takes into account the number of high-risk individuals in each state, estimated by using census data, the number of doses that have already been shipped to each state, and the prevalence estimates for conditions of concern in high-risk groups.
Stefanak said he hopes that the 8 million new doses being manufactured will be given to the very vulnerable people in long-term care facilities and those getting home health care.
alcorn@vindy.com