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H1N1 flu vaccines available sooner?
A local group known as ‘Flu Busters’ has been meeting for months.
AUSTINTOWN — The H1N1 flu vaccine may arrive earlier in October than anticipated.
Most of the early vaccine is expected to be in the form of FluMist, which is administered as a mist sprayed into the nose. That is good news for the school-based population, said Diana Colaianni, director of nurses for the Mahoning County Health Department.
People age 6 months through 24 years are targeted to receive the vaccine in the first round of the distribution. FluMist is considered appropriate for healthy people age 2 to 49, she said at Wednesday’s meeting of the H1N1 Interagency Work Group.
The work group, consisting of representatives of public health agencies, health-care facilities, schools, churches, first responders, and the county’s emergency management agency, has been meeting for several months to prepare a coordinated plan to distribute the H1N1 — often called swine flu — vaccine.
Among the ongoing efforts of the work group, known informally as “Flu Busters,” is establishing lists of physicians, health-care organizations and schools that are willing to distribute the flu vaccine or that want help from the health department in setting up clinics.
To date, 101 physicians have signed up, said Linda Ewing, the health department’s deputy director of clinical nursing services, who is in charge of provider registration.
Family doctors and pediatricians are crucial to the success of any immunization program, said Dr. John Venglarcik, health department medical director.
About 85 percent of people get their flu vaccine from family doctors, pharmacies or somewhere in the private sector, compared with about 15 percent at the public health department, officials said.
“We need the physicians. The fact is when physicians recommend that their patients get a vaccine, there is a 92 percent take rate. When physicians do not recommend a flu vaccine, the take rate is 7 percent,” Dr. Venglarcik added.
It is critical to get the schools on board for vaccine clinics, he said.
Many county school districts have said they will run clinics themselves or with the help of the health department nurses, Ewing said, but many others have yet to sign up.
What might be slowing up the response of school districts, said Ron Iarussi, assistant superintendent for the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, are concerns such as whether there will be help available at the clinics and whether children from outside the school district will be eligible.
Those and other questions are expected to be discussed at meetings between public health officials and school superintendents and nurses in mid-October, officials said.
The overall strategy to arrest the spread of the flu is prevention, officials said.
Recommended prevention measures include washing hands frequently, covering the nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing, staying home from school or work when sick, and getting the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines.
The more people who get the vaccine, the better chance there is of preventing the spread of the disease, Dr. Venglarcik said.
alcorn@vindy.com
See also: Woman, 22, dies after getting swine flu"
SWINE-FLU vaccine || Target populations
irst group of people to receive the H1N1 vaccine. Target groups are:
Pregnant women: 5 million
Parents and caregivers of children younger than 6 months: 4 million
Health-care workers: 14 million
People age 6 months to 24 years: 102 million
Adults age 19 to 64: 34 million
Source: Mahoning County District Board of Health