Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

H1N1 vaccine expected to dribble into Jefferson County

by Davis Publications staff

H1N1 vaccine remains available in very limited supply in Jefferson County, reports County Health Officer Eileen Filbert, RN.

Additional doses of the vaccine are anticipated to arrive in small quantities through November.

The Jefferson Health Department will be sharing some of those limited doses with requesting county medical providers, as they are approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to administer the vaccine.

The health department will begin offering the vaccine each Tuesday and Friday starting Oct. 30, as vaccine is available, to the following designated high risk categories of Jefferson County residents:

• Pregnant women

• Those caring for or living with infants under 6 months of age

• Children 6 months of age through 4 years

• Children 5 to 18 years of age with medical conditions

• Health care workers

It is anticipated that as more vaccine becomes available across the nation, the number of doses available to Jefferson County and participating county medical providers will also increase, she said.

This vaccination campaign is anticipated to continue through the summer of 2010, as H1N1 influenza virus is expected to circulate through the population for at least two years or until the population is no longer susceptible to that virus.

As soon as larger quantities of vaccine are shipped, clinics will be scheduled in Jefferson County public schools. This will provide healthy school-aged children opportunity to receive the vaccine in their community.

“It would be anticipated that those clinics would not be held before December or January at the earliest,” Filbert said.

Jefferson County individuals wanting to receive this vaccine through their medical provider located within the county can contact that medical provider, she said.