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Elderly not given fair access to swine flu shot, critics say
THE NEWS TRIBUNE, TACOMA, WASH. | ROB CARSON | <ABBR class=updated title=2009-12-26T18:48:13-05:00>Sat, Dec 26, 6:48 PM</ABBR>
Dec. 26--Throughout the peak of this fall's swine flu pandemic, people older than 64 were unable to get vaccinated against the disease.
Public health officials constantly reassured older adults that they had heightened resistance to the H1N1 virus and told them to wait their turn.
Yet mortality statistics in Pierce County and across the country show that those over 64 died at a rate nearly twice that of the general population.
In Pierce County, five of 11 flu victims were people older than 50 and included people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, none of whom had access to the vaccine.
Those statistics have led some to complain about discrimination against the elderly.
"They were denied the opportunity to have the vaccination," Gig Harbor resident Connie Helton, 64, said recently. "I think that's horrible."
Helton said she tried twice to get the H1N1 vaccine, first at MultiCare and then at a Safeway pharmacy. Both times she was turned down because of her age.
"I don't know how everybody else feels about that," Helton said, "but it's the first time I can remember that a group or class of people has been pointed out and told, 'Everybody can have it except you.'
"I almost felt like they were saying the elderly are expendable."
That absolutely was not the case, said Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department spokeswoman Joby Winans.
The department followed recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Winans said. The intent of the recommendations was to use the most efficient way to prevent the spread of the disease, she said.
"We were looking at national statistics of who was most likely to get sick," Winans said. "At the time, the statistics were showing that the people who were more likely to get sick were younger people.
"Basically, the people who got sick and are still more likely to get sick are younger."
Winans said it's also true that people 64 and older who do become infected are at greater risk of serious complications.
"If older people do get sick, they could become sicker and could be more likely to die than younger people," she said.
Because the amount of vaccine was limited, public health officials reasoned that it should be used to protect the greatest number of people.
"We went with the old public health rule: Find out who's getting sick and prevent the disease among them," Winans said.
The fact that the vast majority of young people infected with swine flu had only minor symptoms and recovered in a week or less made vaccination priorities more complicated.
In Washington, only three people in the 0-4 age group -- a high priority for the vaccine -- have died of the illness. Swine flu deaths of those over the age of 64 have totaled 14 statewide. In all, 64 people had died of swine flu in Washington as of Friday.
Of the 11 people who have died of swine flu in Pierce County, three were over the age of 60. One was 16; two were in their 20s. Five were in their 30s, 40s or 50s.
A study of H1N1 flu mortality in Mexico published last month in the medical journal Lancet found that while those between the ages of 10 and 39 were most likely to get the disease, mortality rates were highest for those age 70 and older. In that age bracket, 10.3 percent of those aged 70 and older who contracted the disease died, according to the study.
A California study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association showed similar results: H1N1 primarily affected the young, the study found, but fatalities were highest among those 50 and older.
On Dec. 12, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department lifted all restrictions on who was eligible for swine-flu shots and has since been urging people of all ages to get them.
"It was really unfortunate that the manufacturers could not produce the vaccine as quickly as we had hoped," Winans said. "As soon as we could get it out to bigger numbers, we did."
Helton said she finds that disingenuous.
"They talked out of both sides of their mouths," she said. "First older people didn't need the vaccine, and now we should get it."
THE NEWS TRIBUNE, TACOMA, WASH. | ROB CARSON | <ABBR class=updated title=2009-12-26T18:48:13-05:00>Sat, Dec 26, 6:48 PM</ABBR>
Dec. 26--Throughout the peak of this fall's swine flu pandemic, people older than 64 were unable to get vaccinated against the disease.
Public health officials constantly reassured older adults that they had heightened resistance to the H1N1 virus and told them to wait their turn.
Yet mortality statistics in Pierce County and across the country show that those over 64 died at a rate nearly twice that of the general population.
In Pierce County, five of 11 flu victims were people older than 50 and included people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, none of whom had access to the vaccine.
Those statistics have led some to complain about discrimination against the elderly.
"They were denied the opportunity to have the vaccination," Gig Harbor resident Connie Helton, 64, said recently. "I think that's horrible."
Helton said she tried twice to get the H1N1 vaccine, first at MultiCare and then at a Safeway pharmacy. Both times she was turned down because of her age.
"I don't know how everybody else feels about that," Helton said, "but it's the first time I can remember that a group or class of people has been pointed out and told, 'Everybody can have it except you.'
"I almost felt like they were saying the elderly are expendable."
That absolutely was not the case, said Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department spokeswoman Joby Winans.
The department followed recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Winans said. The intent of the recommendations was to use the most efficient way to prevent the spread of the disease, she said.
"We were looking at national statistics of who was most likely to get sick," Winans said. "At the time, the statistics were showing that the people who were more likely to get sick were younger people.
"Basically, the people who got sick and are still more likely to get sick are younger."
Winans said it's also true that people 64 and older who do become infected are at greater risk of serious complications.
"If older people do get sick, they could become sicker and could be more likely to die than younger people," she said.
Because the amount of vaccine was limited, public health officials reasoned that it should be used to protect the greatest number of people.
"We went with the old public health rule: Find out who's getting sick and prevent the disease among them," Winans said.
The fact that the vast majority of young people infected with swine flu had only minor symptoms and recovered in a week or less made vaccination priorities more complicated.
In Washington, only three people in the 0-4 age group -- a high priority for the vaccine -- have died of the illness. Swine flu deaths of those over the age of 64 have totaled 14 statewide. In all, 64 people had died of swine flu in Washington as of Friday.
Of the 11 people who have died of swine flu in Pierce County, three were over the age of 60. One was 16; two were in their 20s. Five were in their 30s, 40s or 50s.
A study of H1N1 flu mortality in Mexico published last month in the medical journal Lancet found that while those between the ages of 10 and 39 were most likely to get the disease, mortality rates were highest for those age 70 and older. In that age bracket, 10.3 percent of those aged 70 and older who contracted the disease died, according to the study.
A California study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association showed similar results: H1N1 primarily affected the young, the study found, but fatalities were highest among those 50 and older.
On Dec. 12, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department lifted all restrictions on who was eligible for swine-flu shots and has since been urging people of all ages to get them.
"It was really unfortunate that the manufacturers could not produce the vaccine as quickly as we had hoped," Winans said. "As soon as we could get it out to bigger numbers, we did."
Helton said she finds that disingenuous.
"They talked out of both sides of their mouths," she said. "First older people didn't need the vaccine, and now we should get it."
