Commonground
Senior Moderator
BY BETH QUIMBY
Portland Press Herald
09/19/2009
Pregnant women, household members and caregivers of babies, health care workers and people under age 25 will get the first doses of swine flu vaccine when it becomes available next month.
But all Mainers who want a vaccination should be able to get one by the end of the year, according to state health officials.
The free vaccines, developed to protect people from the swine flu, or H1N1, are expected to arrive in early October. Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of Maine's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the earliest shipments of vaccine will be distributed to pregnant women, their doctors and other health care workers who work with pregnant women.
About 200,000 doses of the vaccine for other groups at higher risk of complications from the infection or of spreading it are expected by mid-October. When demand for the vaccine by those vulnerable groups has been met, healthy people 25 years old and older will be given access to the vaccine probably starting in November, said Mills.
She said everyone who wants the vaccine will be able to get it by Christmas.
"We expect to have sufficient supplies for everyone," Mills said.
The state already distributes several million doses of various vaccines each year, and Mills said she does not foresee problems in getting the swine flu vaccine out to the public.
"We know that business quite well," she said.
Workers at medical offices say they are getting deluged with calls from patients wanting to make appointments for a swine flu vaccination.
"We are not making any appointments yet because we just don't know when it is going to be available, but we tell patients to keep checking back with us," said Roxanne Thomas, office manager at Bayview Pediatrics in Yarmouth.
InterMed, a health care organization based in South Portland with offices around the region, has received hundreds of phone calls about the vaccine. InterMed has adopted a new set of protocols for patients with flu-like symptoms, said Karen Hachburn, InterMed safety administrator.
Patients calling with respiratory illnesses are first questioned on the phone. Primary care doctors then talk to the triaged patients to determine whether they need treatment. If flu is suspected, whether swine flu or regular seasonal flu, the patients are sent to the urgent care department in South Portland where they are given masks to wear upon arrival and directed to a special area to wait for their appointments.
All of InterMed's pediatric patients with flu like symptoms requiring treatment are directed to the Marginal Way office in Portland, where health care workers greet them in the parking garage with masks and gloves and bring them up in a back elevator for treatment.
"This is because they are at high risk of spreading the disease," said Hachborn.
There have been about 200 confirmed cases of swine flu in Maine to date. Health officials estimate there have been thousands of unconfirmed cases. So far Maine's public schools have been spared a major outbreak since the new school year started late last month.
Bowdoin College in Brunswick is the only private educational institution with an outbreak to date, with 100 students infected by the disease. There have been isolated cases on other college campuses across the state.
The swine flu vaccine will be made available at schools, hospitals, private physicians offices and other distribution sites across the state, Mills said. So far 116 pubic schools have been signed up to offer students swine flu shots. State-run swine flu clinics for vulnerable groups, yet to be scheduled, will also be widely available around the state.
Although the vaccination is free, patients without health insurance may be charged up to $14.37 for an inoculation. Mills said the state-run clinics will not charge people without health insurance.
Dr. Andrew Pelletier, a medical epidemiologist at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said swine flu clinic information will be publicized when it becomes available next month through local newspapers and other media outlets and on the state's swine flu Web site at www.maineflu.gov.
He said people seeking access to the swine flu vaccine may also call their doctors, municipal health departments or local hospitals for information about where to access the vaccine once it becomes available in the state.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/6871646.html
Portland Press Herald
09/19/2009
Pregnant women, household members and caregivers of babies, health care workers and people under age 25 will get the first doses of swine flu vaccine when it becomes available next month.
But all Mainers who want a vaccination should be able to get one by the end of the year, according to state health officials.
The free vaccines, developed to protect people from the swine flu, or H1N1, are expected to arrive in early October. Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of Maine's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the earliest shipments of vaccine will be distributed to pregnant women, their doctors and other health care workers who work with pregnant women.
About 200,000 doses of the vaccine for other groups at higher risk of complications from the infection or of spreading it are expected by mid-October. When demand for the vaccine by those vulnerable groups has been met, healthy people 25 years old and older will be given access to the vaccine probably starting in November, said Mills.
She said everyone who wants the vaccine will be able to get it by Christmas.
"We expect to have sufficient supplies for everyone," Mills said.
The state already distributes several million doses of various vaccines each year, and Mills said she does not foresee problems in getting the swine flu vaccine out to the public.
"We know that business quite well," she said.
Workers at medical offices say they are getting deluged with calls from patients wanting to make appointments for a swine flu vaccination.
"We are not making any appointments yet because we just don't know when it is going to be available, but we tell patients to keep checking back with us," said Roxanne Thomas, office manager at Bayview Pediatrics in Yarmouth.
InterMed, a health care organization based in South Portland with offices around the region, has received hundreds of phone calls about the vaccine. InterMed has adopted a new set of protocols for patients with flu-like symptoms, said Karen Hachburn, InterMed safety administrator.
Patients calling with respiratory illnesses are first questioned on the phone. Primary care doctors then talk to the triaged patients to determine whether they need treatment. If flu is suspected, whether swine flu or regular seasonal flu, the patients are sent to the urgent care department in South Portland where they are given masks to wear upon arrival and directed to a special area to wait for their appointments.
All of InterMed's pediatric patients with flu like symptoms requiring treatment are directed to the Marginal Way office in Portland, where health care workers greet them in the parking garage with masks and gloves and bring them up in a back elevator for treatment.
"This is because they are at high risk of spreading the disease," said Hachborn.
There have been about 200 confirmed cases of swine flu in Maine to date. Health officials estimate there have been thousands of unconfirmed cases. So far Maine's public schools have been spared a major outbreak since the new school year started late last month.
Bowdoin College in Brunswick is the only private educational institution with an outbreak to date, with 100 students infected by the disease. There have been isolated cases on other college campuses across the state.
The swine flu vaccine will be made available at schools, hospitals, private physicians offices and other distribution sites across the state, Mills said. So far 116 pubic schools have been signed up to offer students swine flu shots. State-run swine flu clinics for vulnerable groups, yet to be scheduled, will also be widely available around the state.
Although the vaccination is free, patients without health insurance may be charged up to $14.37 for an inoculation. Mills said the state-run clinics will not charge people without health insurance.
Dr. Andrew Pelletier, a medical epidemiologist at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said swine flu clinic information will be publicized when it becomes available next month through local newspapers and other media outlets and on the state's swine flu Web site at www.maineflu.gov.
He said people seeking access to the swine flu vaccine may also call their doctors, municipal health departments or local hospitals for information about where to access the vaccine once it becomes available in the state.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/6871646.html