<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>Iowa Stocks Up for Flu Pandemic
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa is moving forward with preparations for a possible flu pandemic.
The state's executive council has approved the health department's request for four-point-eight million dollars to buy antiviral drugs. That's enough to treat about 309-thousand Iowans who contract the flu. Combined with a federal stockpile, Iowa will have enough to medicine to cover about 25 percent of the state's population.
Health department spokeswoman Nicole Peckumn says it's the state's first stockpile of drugs specifically for a pandemic response.
The drugs, Tamiflu, a pill, and Relenza, an inhaler, would go to the people most at risk of illness and death during a flu pandemic.
Peckumn says the order will be placed within 30 days and received in six to nine months.
? 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated: August 15, 2006, 10:12 am </td></tr></tbody></table>
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa is moving forward with preparations for a possible flu pandemic.
The state's executive council has approved the health department's request for four-point-eight million dollars to buy antiviral drugs. That's enough to treat about 309-thousand Iowans who contract the flu. Combined with a federal stockpile, Iowa will have enough to medicine to cover about 25 percent of the state's population.
Health department spokeswoman Nicole Peckumn says it's the state's first stockpile of drugs specifically for a pandemic response.
The drugs, Tamiflu, a pill, and Relenza, an inhaler, would go to the people most at risk of illness and death during a flu pandemic.
Peckumn says the order will be placed within 30 days and received in six to nine months.
? 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated: August 15, 2006, 10:12 am </td></tr></tbody></table>
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