Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
H1N1: Too much talk, too few shots
November 6, 2009
On Monday we learned that terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay were getting precious doses of swine flu vaccine. But on Thursday, the White House denied it.
Perhaps just as irritating was news that Wall Street rascals at Goldman Sachs were getting a shipment of vaccine ahead of other public institutions and private physicians. That's not right. Morgan Stanley at least gave away its 1,000 shots to local hospitals.
The swine flu victim count now includes a 13-year-old Iowa short-haired cat, believed to be the first feline diagnosed with H1N1. It survived. Two ferrets, however, were not so lucky.
You see, there's no shortage of H1N1 news, only the vaccine.
In a state that had recorded 30 deaths and 1,706 lab-confirmed cases when the week began, Louisiana's regional health officials still await sufficient supplies to offer widespread vaccinations to high risk groups.
That includes expectant mothers, youngsters and those who care for them, young adults, the asthmatic, and health care workers. Private providers were having better luck with shipments.
Of the 332,700 doses of H1N1 vaccine the state had ordered, the Centers for Diseast Control reported that approximately 253,800 doses of H1N1 vaccine had been shipped to Louisiana as of last week. The state meamwhile is pushing more widely available vaccinations against pneumonia, a serious complication associated with severe cases of both seasonal and H1N1 flu.
Once large enough shipments of the H1N1 vaccine arrive, school-site vaccinations will begin, but for now these potential incubators have to wait. The school board in Lafayette, for instance, announced Thurdsay that vaccinations would be Dec. 5, after
Thanksgiving.
Waiting for our shots, we can contemplate the various wrinkles the H1N1 virus presents compared to our traditional wars against more conventional viruses.
The last vaccinations likely won't be given until March or beyond the time when conventional flu season ends. Discovered last spring, it's just not known if the H1N1 pandemic will continue rolling through the world's population and into the summer of 2010, said Jerre Perry, the public health administrator for Region 7 that includes northwest Louisiana.
For once, elderly citizens in reasonable health aren't considered high risk. On the other hand, children under 9 may require two rounds of injections.
When school vaccinations begin, elementary schools will be first, middle schools next and then high schools. Nurses would then return to elementary schools for another round.
And as always there will be debate by some whether or not to get the H1N1 flu shot. The skittish should consult their physicians.
Rattled pet owners, who have that sick cat in mind, are being told by experts that there is no need to take extraordinary preventive measures for their animals.The H1N1 flu may jump easily from person to person but it does not travel well from humans to animals or animals to humans, except in a few rare instances.
That's something, at least.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20091106/OPINION03/911060305/1058
November 6, 2009
On Monday we learned that terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay were getting precious doses of swine flu vaccine. But on Thursday, the White House denied it.
Perhaps just as irritating was news that Wall Street rascals at Goldman Sachs were getting a shipment of vaccine ahead of other public institutions and private physicians. That's not right. Morgan Stanley at least gave away its 1,000 shots to local hospitals.
The swine flu victim count now includes a 13-year-old Iowa short-haired cat, believed to be the first feline diagnosed with H1N1. It survived. Two ferrets, however, were not so lucky.
You see, there's no shortage of H1N1 news, only the vaccine.
In a state that had recorded 30 deaths and 1,706 lab-confirmed cases when the week began, Louisiana's regional health officials still await sufficient supplies to offer widespread vaccinations to high risk groups.
That includes expectant mothers, youngsters and those who care for them, young adults, the asthmatic, and health care workers. Private providers were having better luck with shipments.
Of the 332,700 doses of H1N1 vaccine the state had ordered, the Centers for Diseast Control reported that approximately 253,800 doses of H1N1 vaccine had been shipped to Louisiana as of last week. The state meamwhile is pushing more widely available vaccinations against pneumonia, a serious complication associated with severe cases of both seasonal and H1N1 flu.
Once large enough shipments of the H1N1 vaccine arrive, school-site vaccinations will begin, but for now these potential incubators have to wait. The school board in Lafayette, for instance, announced Thurdsay that vaccinations would be Dec. 5, after
Thanksgiving.
Waiting for our shots, we can contemplate the various wrinkles the H1N1 virus presents compared to our traditional wars against more conventional viruses.
The last vaccinations likely won't be given until March or beyond the time when conventional flu season ends. Discovered last spring, it's just not known if the H1N1 pandemic will continue rolling through the world's population and into the summer of 2010, said Jerre Perry, the public health administrator for Region 7 that includes northwest Louisiana.
For once, elderly citizens in reasonable health aren't considered high risk. On the other hand, children under 9 may require two rounds of injections.
When school vaccinations begin, elementary schools will be first, middle schools next and then high schools. Nurses would then return to elementary schools for another round.
And as always there will be debate by some whether or not to get the H1N1 flu shot. The skittish should consult their physicians.
Rattled pet owners, who have that sick cat in mind, are being told by experts that there is no need to take extraordinary preventive measures for their animals.The H1N1 flu may jump easily from person to person but it does not travel well from humans to animals or animals to humans, except in a few rare instances.
That's something, at least.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20091106/OPINION03/911060305/1058