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Swine flu vaccine clinics offered in Marathon County

by Bryon Graff

WAUSAU (WAOW) - The Marathon County Health Department announces several upcoming swine flu clinics.  The following press release from the MCHD outlines the dates and times, as well as who qualifies for the vaccine.

Online Reporter: Bryon Graff

(PRESS RELEASE) - MCHD will be making vaccine available through public vaccination clinics.  Given the limited availability of vaccine, the target populations for our clinics include:

• People who provide care for or live with children under the age of 6 months (parents, siblings, daycare providers)
• Pregnant women who have not yet received H1N1 vaccine from their health care provider.

The clinics will be:

 As vaccine availability increases, the next target population for MCHD mass clinics would be children aged 6 months to 4 years, and children and adults up to age 64 with chronic diseases.  

Vaccine Supply

Health departments and health care organizations continue to receive shipments of the H1N1 vaccine every week.  They continue to focus only on the target populations, but fully anticipate that over time there will be plenty of vaccine to expand those groups and vaccinate everyone who wants to be vaccinated.  The Health Department encourages all individuals to continue to plan on getting vaccinated once the target groups expand.  “It will not be too late to get vaccinated weeks or even a few months from now,” said Joan Theurer, Health Officer.  “The H1N1 virus will not suddenly go away.”  Research on previous influenza pandemics indicate they can last for two to three years with several waves or peaks of activity.  While it is impossible to predict, it is possible that future waves could be more severe. 

Should I get vaccinated if I think I had the flu?

The Health Department continues to emphasize that people should continue to seek the H1N1 vaccine even if they believe they had the H1N1 flu already.  Unless a person was specifically tested positive for H1N1 through a laboratory-confirmed-subtyped test, they may have had another virus and would still need protection from H1N1 influenza.  The symptoms of influenza are similar to those caused by many other viruses. Even when a lot of people in the community have influenza, many other viruses are also causing illness.  Most people who had flu-like illness cannot be completely sure that they had H1N1 flu.  It may have been another illness with similar symptoms.  It is not harmful to receive the vaccine if you had the disease. 

H1N1 Impact in WI

Influenza activity is widespread but experiencing modest decrease across the state. Influenza-like activity is higher than normal for this time of year, with 70 of the 72 counties reporting confirmed H1N1 cases.   Since September 1, 2009, there have been 288 hospitalizations due to H1N1 virus infection in Wisconsin.  

H1N1 Vaccine Update

The guidance WI Department of Health Services (DHS) issued on November 11 to local health departments and health professionals asks them to target H1N1 vaccine for a subset of individuals most-at-risk during the next week.

DHS recommends vaccination efforts focus on the following subset of CDC’s target groups:

• Pregnant women

• Persons who live with or provide care for infants age 6 months or younger (examples: parents, siblings, daycare providers)

• Health care and emergency medical services personnel who have direct contact with patients

• Children age 6 months - 4 years

• Children and adolescents age 5-18 years who have chronic medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications. 

The CDC continues to stress there will be adequate supplies of H1N1 vaccine available for everyone who wants it, but it will take a longer time than previously projected for adequate supplies to become available.   There is currently a better supply of the intranasal H1N1 vaccine than the injectable form.  The intranasal form is equally safe and effective.  It is for healthy people who are not pregnant and between 2 and 49 years of age. 

Schools

Illness rates in area schools peaked the last week of October and have decreased in the past tow weeks.  School officials and the health department continue to monitor those levels on a weekly basis.  For a listing of school closures go to:   http://dpi.wi.gov/sspw/pandemicflu.html