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The Snohomish Health District is offering free swine flu vaccinations at six upcoming events, with the first scheduled for Monday in Stanwood.
No appointments are necessary. Anyone older than six months is eligible to be immunized.
Although swine flu has at least temporarily vanished in Washington, cases are still being reported nationally. The virus, which first appeared 10 months ago and came back in the fall, could return again later this year.
Most of the events are being held at area senior centers, in part because they're conveniently located throughout the county and they lend themselves well to hosting vaccination clinics, said Suzanne Pate, Snohomish Health District spokeswoman.
When the swine flu vaccine first was available last fall, it was reserved for pregnant women and anyone from 6 months to 24 years old. Young people were targeted because theirs was the age group getting sickest from swine flu.
Older adults weren't on the priority list because anyone exposed to a similar type of flu in the 1950s and 1960s was thought to have some immunity to swine flu, she said.
Yet seniors, who are on the priority list for doses of the seasonal flu vaccine, found it hard to believe that they weren't a priority group for receiving the swine flu vaccine.
Now, with plenty of vaccine available, the public health agency wants to be sure that seniors ? and anyone else who wants to be vaccinated ? knows that it's available, she said.
?We have plenty of vaccine for anyone who wants to have it who is older than 6 months,? she said.
No appointments are necessary. Anyone older than six months is eligible to be immunized.
Although swine flu has at least temporarily vanished in Washington, cases are still being reported nationally. The virus, which first appeared 10 months ago and came back in the fall, could return again later this year.
Most of the events are being held at area senior centers, in part because they're conveniently located throughout the county and they lend themselves well to hosting vaccination clinics, said Suzanne Pate, Snohomish Health District spokeswoman.
When the swine flu vaccine first was available last fall, it was reserved for pregnant women and anyone from 6 months to 24 years old. Young people were targeted because theirs was the age group getting sickest from swine flu.
Older adults weren't on the priority list because anyone exposed to a similar type of flu in the 1950s and 1960s was thought to have some immunity to swine flu, she said.
Yet seniors, who are on the priority list for doses of the seasonal flu vaccine, found it hard to believe that they weren't a priority group for receiving the swine flu vaccine.
Now, with plenty of vaccine available, the public health agency wants to be sure that seniors ? and anyone else who wants to be vaccinated ? knows that it's available, she said.
?We have plenty of vaccine for anyone who wants to have it who is older than 6 months,? she said.
