pinesunderpar
New member
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
London area death toll reaches five
H1N1: Two adults die as health unit awaits a new shipment of vaccine
By KATE DUBINSKI
Last Updated: 10th November 2009, 4:01am
Two adults have died from what's suspected to be H1N1, bringing the death toll to five in the London region, the Middlesex-London Health Unit announced yesterday.
Ages and genders of the adults who died weren't released.
The health unit reported last week that a two-month old and two people in their 70s had died.
Testing confirmed that two of the five victims died from H1N1. Test results are pending for the other three victims.
The health unit also announced a vaccination clinic today for people in high-risk groups.
Additional clinics are not being announced because the health unit hasn't received a new shipment of vaccine. Officials say they have about 10,000 doses left.
"We were told we might have to wait until Thursday this week before we get another shipment," Dr. Graham Pollett, the medical officer of health, said yesterday.
"It's frustrating in the sense that we know that the vaccine is the most effective way to protect people. We have the staffing and the locations. We're all geared up to provide the vaccine for people, but we don't have the vaccine."
The health unit doesn't have enough doses to roll out the vaccine to the next most vulnerable group -- school children.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health was still adding up vaccine counts yesterday and was unable to say if they'd hit Health Minister Deb Matthews' stated goal of 2.2 million people vaccinated against H1N1.
"We're still waiting for some public health units," ministry spokesperson David Jensen said.
Matthews and Dr. Arlene King, the province's chief medical officer of health, said last week the province was shooting to give out at least 2.2 million doses of the vaccine during the first two weeks it was available.
Long, frustrating lineups and frequent reports of healthy people outside the high-priority groups queue-jumping -- including hospital administrators and professional athletes -- have plagued the roll-out of Ontario's pandemic response.
The ministry did not hold a news conference yesterday as it did every day last week, but is expected to schedule one for today.
Jensen said the ministry was expecting to receive the latest batch of shots yesterday, but because it needed to repackage the medicine, the 395,000 doses of adjuvanted vaccine won't make it out to clinics until tomorrow.
Another 375,000 doses of unadjuvanted vaccine will need to be cleared by the federal government before it can be distributed.
Before that batch arrived, Ontario had received 2.418 million doses, which are being administered through nearly 3,500 separate locations.
kate.dubinski@sunmedia.ca With files from Sun Media
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/11/10/11693231-sun.html
London area death toll reaches five
H1N1: Two adults die as health unit awaits a new shipment of vaccine
By KATE DUBINSKI
Last Updated: 10th November 2009, 4:01am
Two adults have died from what's suspected to be H1N1, bringing the death toll to five in the London region, the Middlesex-London Health Unit announced yesterday.
Ages and genders of the adults who died weren't released.
The health unit reported last week that a two-month old and two people in their 70s had died.
Testing confirmed that two of the five victims died from H1N1. Test results are pending for the other three victims.
The health unit also announced a vaccination clinic today for people in high-risk groups.
Additional clinics are not being announced because the health unit hasn't received a new shipment of vaccine. Officials say they have about 10,000 doses left.
"We were told we might have to wait until Thursday this week before we get another shipment," Dr. Graham Pollett, the medical officer of health, said yesterday.
"It's frustrating in the sense that we know that the vaccine is the most effective way to protect people. We have the staffing and the locations. We're all geared up to provide the vaccine for people, but we don't have the vaccine."
The health unit doesn't have enough doses to roll out the vaccine to the next most vulnerable group -- school children.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health was still adding up vaccine counts yesterday and was unable to say if they'd hit Health Minister Deb Matthews' stated goal of 2.2 million people vaccinated against H1N1.
"We're still waiting for some public health units," ministry spokesperson David Jensen said.
Matthews and Dr. Arlene King, the province's chief medical officer of health, said last week the province was shooting to give out at least 2.2 million doses of the vaccine during the first two weeks it was available.
Long, frustrating lineups and frequent reports of healthy people outside the high-priority groups queue-jumping -- including hospital administrators and professional athletes -- have plagued the roll-out of Ontario's pandemic response.
The ministry did not hold a news conference yesterday as it did every day last week, but is expected to schedule one for today.
Jensen said the ministry was expecting to receive the latest batch of shots yesterday, but because it needed to repackage the medicine, the 395,000 doses of adjuvanted vaccine won't make it out to clinics until tomorrow.
Another 375,000 doses of unadjuvanted vaccine will need to be cleared by the federal government before it can be distributed.
Before that batch arrived, Ontario had received 2.418 million doses, which are being administered through nearly 3,500 separate locations.
kate.dubinski@sunmedia.ca With files from Sun Media
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/11/10/11693231-sun.html