The Need to Continue to Vaccinate for H1N1 Continues

Disease Update

Some time has passed since my last update as I have waited and watched the progression of H1N1. The downward trend in disease incidence continued dramatically up to about 4 weeks ago. The level of illness has now remained constant over the last month with a slight uptick the last week or two. The majority of flu across the US continues to be H1N1 disease. The numbers have dropped but the disease remains the same. No significant mutations have occurred and the vaccine remains as important as ever. Those that have been vaccinated are well protected. It appears that our current strain will be included in the seasonal flu shot that will arrive next fall. It remains unclear if those that have not been vaccinated with this years H1N1 vaccine and are less then 10 years of age will need 2 seasonal vaccines in the fall to be fully protected against Swine Flu if they have had seasonal flu vaccine in the past. The best bet is to go ahead and get the current H1N1 now. Safety monitoring covering millions of doses have revealed NO difference then the regular seasonal vaccine.

Previous pandemics have demonstrated multiple waves of disease activity which with this strain can occur at anytime during or outside of the "regular" flu season of January, February, and March. It is estimated that approximately half of the US population remains susceptible to Swine Flu either due to lack of previous exposure or having not been vaccinated. From a public health perspective, this is unacceptable. The vaccine is now readily available even through a lot of the local drug stores.

We continue to hear resistance amongst parents. Since no short term effects have been demonstrated, the focus now appears to be on concerns about long term effects. Remember that this vaccine is manufactured identical to the seasonal vaccine that has been made with the same process for the past 70 years. The process has been refined greatly over the years to reduce the number of potential non flu related antigens in the vaccine that caused the bulk of the short term side effects in the past. No significant long term effects have been demonstrated over the 70 years history. There is no reason to think that the Swine flu vaccine could be any different.

Vaccine By Appointment Scheduler to Close This Week

The response to the on line vaccine scheduler has been solid to say the least. We hope to give that same option for all of the clinics next year. Instructions will be included on next years cards sent out in early fall. In that the bulk of the vaccine that we are now administering is second dosing, the demand has dropped off to the point that we will stop the by appointment only clinics after this weeks scheduled clinic for the 24th.

We will continue to administer doses on a walk in basis any Tuesday through Friday afternoon from 3 to 5 PM. Just let the front office know you are here for your flu shot. We will continue to offer seasonal flu vaccine as well until our supply runs out. We anticipate that the H1N1 vaccine will be available and continue to be administered until we start next year's seasonal vaccine campaign in September.