Things to Consider

Posted Comments


I appreciate the interest in this subject when people post comments, mostly in the form of questions, on the blog. Rather then responding to each individually, I assume these would be questions that the answers to which would be of interest to everyone so I try to encompass the answers within the text of my weekly postings. Hope this works for everyone. Wanted to be sure you realized these comments were not being ignored.

Vaccine Availability

Nothing has changed in our supply of vaccine. We continue to offer both the nasal mist and injectable H1N1 vaccine. We believe we are close to getting our next shipment of seasonal vaccine and I will post when it arrives. There are a lot of little ones that have received the first of the 2 shots needed to be protected to seasonal flu and are due for dose number 2. The recommended spacing of 28 days between the 2 doses is a minimum number of days only and the second dose will be just as effective when given even though for some it may be as long as 3 months between the 2 doses.

How to access those needed doses of seasonal flu will be posted when the vaccine arrives.

A huge thank you to DHEC, our local Public Health Department, and our local school districts for acting and providing the vaccines through the schools. We hear that 50-75% of the families are taking advantage of the program which is good but we obviously wish it were more. If the vaccine is on its' way to your child's school, please take advantage of this opportunity or make plans to have them vaccinated in any venue you feel comfortable with. We are happy to offer our clinics to you but our primary objective is to get as many children protected from the flu as possible.

Vaccine Safety

I continue to hear concerns about this vaccine's safety. To date 48 million doses have been shipped from the CDC to outlets throughout the US. It is estimated that over 60 million doses have been given already around the world. The vaccine is based on sound science. Science is based on scientifically proven statistically significant facts. Those that speak in a negative context about the vaccine, speak in "what ifs" and "might possibles". Theories are great and are truly the backbone of science. But the true scientific method takes theory then proves it one way or the other. Fortunately we have the facts that have been investigated scientifically and continue to be monitored and to date the facts are very reassuring. As negative as the press can be these days, if there were a significant number of significant side effects from the vaccine, we would have heard about it by now loud and clear!

Warning Shot

In the midst of a busy day seeing patients with flu, it suddenly hit me that we have something to be incredibly thankful for. The fact that this strain of the flu as it exist today, has not really affected our elderly population over the age of 65 is nothing short of a minor miracle. Any given flu season this population accounts for the majority of hospitalizations and deaths from seasonal flu. The peak of this outbreak reached a full third higher then any peak in recent times. If the amount of disease that has affected the younger population had affected the elderly, the medical system as we know it today would have been stressed beyond its' limits. I think the medical community should view this as a warning shot and hopefully design new more time efficient ways to respond with a vaccine to a potential pandemic. The 6 month time frame to manufacture a vaccine is grossly inefficient as has been proven from this years H1N1. A large number of disease had obviously already occurred by the time the vaccine came to market. Again, we were blessed by the fact that the disease itself is mostly mild and the elderly were spared but next time we may not be so lucky.

Two words to remember as we go forward with this evolving pandemic. One is resistance and the other is mutation. Yes,the numbers are down again this past reporting week but the disease remains present in our state in a widespread fashion. Where we are headed, no one can predict. I would foresee several different scenarios. The best would be it continues to fizzle, we get everyone immunized, and we will be prepared if it makes a comeback in its' current form and be very thankful if it does not. Another would be it develops resistance to the current anti-virals that have been so effective in controlling the severe disease making treatment in those that are unprotected more difficult. Duke reported 3 such cases within the last week. The last would be that the virus could mutate and in its' next form be more virulent and cause those that contract the disease to experience more severe symptoms and thus complications. Several cases in northern Europe are currently being investigated and may prove to be mutaions in the virus. I know it is easy to look at a few and dismiss those numbers but remember back in April when we were talking about the "few" cases of H1N1 that were being reported outside of Mexico. Any way you look at it, protection with the vaccine presents an excellent and safe alternative.