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Swine flu shot shipments to Bay Area delayed
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer
The injectable version of the swine flu vaccine was supposed to arrive in doctors' offices and clinics this week, but local public health officials say they're not counting on shipments of flu shots until the end of the month.
California public health officials had said earlier this month that shots for the swine flu - a strain of influenza Type A, subtype H1N1 - would be distributed statewide starting today. The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has long targeted mid-October for the first shipments of injectable vaccine.
But in the Bay Area at least, it looks like the swine flu shot will be very hard to come by for at least a few more weeks.
"We've been told not until the end of the month," said Santa Clara County public health spokeswoman Joy Alexiou. "That could change. Who knows next week what the word may be. But we're expecting our shipment in late October."
A nasal spray version of the vaccine arrived in the Bay Area last week. But because the spray uses a live, though weakened, version of the virus to immunize people, it isn't safe for pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems. They have to wait for the injectable version of the vaccine.
In a letter to Mayor Gavin Newsom last week, San Francisco Public Health Director Mitch Katz said he doesn't know when the city will receive large quantities of vaccine. The city canceled mass vaccination clinics and instead intends to distribute the vaccine to private health care providers and a handful of public health clinics.
Kaiser Permanente, the Bay Area's largest health care provider, is expecting flu shot shipments in the next few weeks. Kaiser received about 17,o00 doses of the nasal spray last week and will begin giving it to healthy children today.
In Santa Clara County, public health officials are expecting a large shipment - 200,000 doses of spray and injectable vaccine - to go to a variety of private providers and public clinics at the end of this month, Alexiou said.
There's some concern among public health experts that the vaccine may arrive after the flu peaks in the community. Alexiou said schools in San Jose are already seeing increased absenteeism rates.
In his letter to the mayor, Katz wrote, "As the shipment gets later and later, the vaccine becomes somewhat less important, raising questions about the value of pulling staff from other jobs to do vaccinations."
E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page C - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/12/BAHT1A3I0D.DTL
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer
The injectable version of the swine flu vaccine was supposed to arrive in doctors' offices and clinics this week, but local public health officials say they're not counting on shipments of flu shots until the end of the month.
California public health officials had said earlier this month that shots for the swine flu - a strain of influenza Type A, subtype H1N1 - would be distributed statewide starting today. The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has long targeted mid-October for the first shipments of injectable vaccine.
But in the Bay Area at least, it looks like the swine flu shot will be very hard to come by for at least a few more weeks.
"We've been told not until the end of the month," said Santa Clara County public health spokeswoman Joy Alexiou. "That could change. Who knows next week what the word may be. But we're expecting our shipment in late October."
A nasal spray version of the vaccine arrived in the Bay Area last week. But because the spray uses a live, though weakened, version of the virus to immunize people, it isn't safe for pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems. They have to wait for the injectable version of the vaccine.
In a letter to Mayor Gavin Newsom last week, San Francisco Public Health Director Mitch Katz said he doesn't know when the city will receive large quantities of vaccine. The city canceled mass vaccination clinics and instead intends to distribute the vaccine to private health care providers and a handful of public health clinics.
Kaiser Permanente, the Bay Area's largest health care provider, is expecting flu shot shipments in the next few weeks. Kaiser received about 17,o00 doses of the nasal spray last week and will begin giving it to healthy children today.
In Santa Clara County, public health officials are expecting a large shipment - 200,000 doses of spray and injectable vaccine - to go to a variety of private providers and public clinics at the end of this month, Alexiou said.
There's some concern among public health experts that the vaccine may arrive after the flu peaks in the community. Alexiou said schools in San Jose are already seeing increased absenteeism rates.
In his letter to the mayor, Katz wrote, "As the shipment gets later and later, the vaccine becomes somewhat less important, raising questions about the value of pulling staff from other jobs to do vaccinations."
E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page C - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/12/BAHT1A3I0D.DTL