1st swine flu vaccines coming to La

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1st swine flu vaccines coming to La

Tuesday, 06 October 2009 14:22

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ?

Louisiana expects its first 26,000 doses of swine flu vaccine on Wednesday, and will send them to about 50 pediatricians around the state, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Hospitals said Tuesday.

The first shipment is of the FluMist nasal spray, but H1N1 vaccine shots are expected to begin arriving next week, Sean Smith said.

"We're targeting kids from age 2 to 5 with this first shipment," Smith said. The spray is meant for healthy people between ages 2 and 49, he said, "and we're seeing that kids have a high risk of complications so we want to get it to them first."

Children under the age of 10 will need two doses of the nasal spray ? the second within about three or four weeks of the first, Smith said.

He said federal agencies "haven't set the allocation numbers for next week yet so we haven't been able to order" the shots.

Those first doses, however many they are, will be targeted to health care workers and pregnant women.

Healthy adults with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or asthma will be next in line after those groups, Smith said.

The department will post a list of doctors who have the vaccine on its www.fighttheflula.com Web site.

"We will be getting shipments every five to 10 days for the next three months. ... We expect to be in the hundreds of thousands of doses received by the end of the month," Smith said.

On Monday, the department said the death toll from the virus in Louisiana had risen to 14 with three deaths in the past week ? a woman from the greater New Orleans area, a woman from the seven-parish area around Lafayette, and a man from the sevcen-parish area including Houma and Thibodaux.

The department said it would not provide any other information to protect the patients' privacy.

It says 1,348 cases of H1N1 have been confirmed by labs this year, indicating that about 79,000 people have been infected. Because most cases are minor, the state public health laboratory tests only hospitalized cases and specimens sent by doctors who act as "sentinel" offices to help the state keep tabs on the virus.


http://www.projectnola.com/the-news/news/42-fox-8/47583-1st-swine-flu-vaccines-coming-to-la

 

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Re: 1st swine flu vaccines coming to La

Limited Quantities Of H1N1 Vaccine Released In La.
Louisiana Receives 26,000 Doses Of H1N1 Vaccine

POSTED: 7:03 pm CDT October 7, 2009

NEW ORLEANS -- Louisiana received 26,000 doses of the H1N1 flu virus vaccine Wednesday, but some people had trouble finding them.

With hundreds of confirmed cases and 14 H1N1-related deaths statewide as of Wednesday, the H1N1 vaccine was officially made available in Louisiana. However, the vaccine was released in limited quantities.

"I called the director yesterday and asked when will I get it," said New Orleans Health Director Dr. Kevin Stephens. "I'm waiting. Please send it immediately. We can take all you can give us."

Stephens said he wants to fight the spread of swine flu in New Orleans, but he didn't receive any of the vaccines.

"I wish I did," he said. "We'd be more than happy to give it to everybody. You can get the vaccine. Providers have the vaccine. I don't know yet who, when and where."

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals said 26,000 doses of the nasal spray vaccine have been sent to 50 providers statewide to protect children ages 2 to 5 considered the most vulnerable. Two-thousand providers have registered for it, but the DHH falls short of identifying the providers, fearing the publicity could cause a bigger rush than some providers can handle.

To date, hundreds have died from H1N1 complications nationwide, and the death toll stands at 14 in Louisiana.

"It's very serious," said WDSU medical editor Dr. Corey Hebert. "The reality is we're getting the vaccine, and if we can prevent one person from dying, then I'm all for it."

Hebert and Stephens urged everyone to get vaccines for both the seasonal and swine flu.

"Swine flu in the U.S. has killed about 750 to 800 people," Hebert said. "The regular flu vaccine you should get as well, more so because that flu kills 40,000 in the U.S. every year."

The DHH said that next week there will be an additional 40,000 vaccines statewide, and by the end of the month that number will leap to hundreds of thousands.

The DHH also said that people interested in the getting the vaccine should contact their health care provider and ask three key questions. First, ask if they've registered for the H1N1 vaccine. Then, ask "When you do expect to get it?" Finally, ask to schedule an appointment.


Video link:

http://www.wdsu.com/health/21233443/detail.html