Clinic planned as flu shots arrive

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The shipments may be small, but Union County has received enough H1N1 flu shots to hold another clinic.

Because of countywide concerns, Union County Public Health Nurse Robin Sevier and Greater Regional Medical Center Executive Director, Continuum of Care LouAnn Snodgrass were at the Union County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday to explain the current situation.

“It does seem like there is a lot of confusion out there with the seasonal flu, H1N1 and shortages of the vaccines,” said Snodgrass.

According to Sevier, Union County has received an additional 200 doses of H1N1 shots to be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Greater Regional Outreach-Public Health office. The county’s low supply does mean this clinic will only be offered to individuals who fall into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) priority group subset — including pregnant women, people who live with or provide care for children under 6 months old, health-care and emergency medical services personnel who have direct contact with patients or infectious material, children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years old and people ages 5 to 18 years old who have medical conditions that put them at a higher risk for influenza-related complications.

Shipments

Snodgrass said the county’s smaller population has limited the amount of vaccine available here, thus requiring the priority group to be minimized. There is also very little notice given to counties about when shipments of H1N1 vaccine doses will arrive and how big they will be.

“It’s really hard to plan clinics and let everybody have advanced warning as to when we’re having our H1N1 clinics,” said Sevier.

Union County had gone two weeks without receiving a shipment of H1N1 vaccine doses, and 200 doses administered during the last children’s clinic only lasted one and a-half hours.

“We will be getting more vaccines, it will just be in limited quantities,” Sevier said.

Future clinics will be announced on a weekly basis, and information can be found in the Creston News Advertiser and at www.greaterregional.org. Union County is still without seasonal flu shots, but more are expected to arrive this month.

Positives

There is good news concerning the flu for area residents. Snodgrass said the H1N1 strand is less likely to develop in people who are 65 years old or older because of previous exposure and pre-existing immunity.

Also, the county has a stockpile of Tamiflu available should a flu pandemic occur.

“In the event that we would have to give that to the public, then we would follow the guidelines from the CDC,” said Sevier.

As always, Sevier and Snodgrass suggest following the “three c’s” for virus prevention — cover your mouth, clean your hands and contain viruses by staying home when sick.