Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007
Officials: Flu vaccine should be plentiful this year
CDC expects up to 115 million doses to be administered nationwide
by Fred Lewis | Staff Writer
Charles E. Shoemaker⁄The Gazette Washington Adventist Hospital Medical Staff Supervisor Shirley Henry-Lue of Lanham gets her flu shot from occupational health nurse Deborah Bergin during an Oct. 3 clinic at the Takoma Park hospital.
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This story was corrected on Oct. 10, 2007, from its print version.
With a record amount of vaccine produced for the 2007-2008 flu season, doctors’ offices, private suppliers and public clinics should be well stocked this year, area health officials say.
Residents can choose their method of delivery — a shot or mist — and can get it almost anywhere: schools, at work, the supermarket. You might even be able to get vaccinated in your car (see related story).
‘‘If you want to reduce the likelihood of getting ill with influenza, the best way is to get vaccine,” said Cindy Edwards, nurse administrator for Montgomery County’s immunization program.
‘‘And it’s available,” she added noting the county ordered about 6,500 doses — both the injected vaccine and the nasal mist.
The expansion of nasal vaccine to a younger age group means no needles. It also means more vaccine is available to public and private providers.
‘‘Being able to get the nasal vaccine instead of the needle is a big plus,” said Dr. Gaurov Dayal, a pediatrician and chief medical officer at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville.
‘‘For a lot of parents who were hesitant whether to give their children a shot, they can get this. ... Fear of a needle is a big issue.”
The Food and Drug Administration in September approved new guidelines allowing children as young as 2 years old to receive the nasal vaccine, which is sprayed like a mist into the nostril. Prior guidelines for the live nasal vaccine restricted delivery to ages 5 to 49. Children as young as 6 months old can get the injected form.
Extending that age range for nasal vaccine might bring in more young children, an age group considered at risk for getting sick, Dayal said.
‘‘We’re hopeful a lot of people will get vaccinated, not just at Shady Grove,” he said. ‘‘[Influenza] is not a trivial illness. Most of the people who died last season were elderly and young. It should be taken seriously. People should be aware of the symptoms.”
Those symptoms include fever, runny or stuffy nose, headache, muscle aches, extreme tiredness, stomach symptoms like nausea, sore throat and dry cough. Between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population contract the contagious respiratory illness each year. About 200,000 people are hospitalized with complications and about 36,000 die. In less severe forms, it can keep people out of work for days.
Medical experts say several at-risk groups should receive vaccine: 6 months to 5 years old; age 50 and older; 6 months to 18 years old on long-term aspirin care; women who may become pregnant; and people with weakened immune systems.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects a record number of doses — 110 million to 115 million — to be distributed throughout the United States for the 2007-2008 season, with an estimated 75 million projected for distribution before Oct. 31. Most people get vaccinated in October and November for a season that generally peaks in February.
Vaccinating the masses helps reduce the number of people who get sick and miss work or require hospitalization. And in the event of a serious public health crisis or pandemic, it would help officials rule out who is suffering from influenza and who is sick because of something else, such as avian flu.
The CDC’s recommendations for 2007-2008 reemphasize the past year’s recommendations in urging children ages 2 to 8 to get two doses of vaccine several weeks apart and anyone who wants ‘‘to reduce the risk of becoming ill with influenza or transmitting influenza to others should be vaccinated.”
Last year, the CDC, expecting an abundant supply, eased restrictions on who should receive vaccine, following two years of highly publicized shortages.
This year, Judy Lichty of Adventist HealthCare, which runs Shady Grove and Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, ordered about 11,000 shots for community and church-based clinics. It doesn’t set a record, she said, but it comes close.
Last year, Adventist HealthCare administered about 9,000 shots at clinics and vaccinated about 70 percent of hospital staff at Washington Adventist and Shady Grove, Lichty said.
‘‘[That] is huge,” she said, noting that nationally compliance is about 30 percent. ‘‘[Health care workers] are far more likely to be exposed to things than other people.”
County considers drive-thru clinic
It’s the quickest way to get a cheeseburger, so why not a flu shot?
In an effort to dispense a large amount of vaccine quickly and efficiently, the county is considering a new method of delivery: The drive-thru clinic.
Cindy Edwards, nurse administrator for the county Health and Human Services’ immunization program, said officials are working on a drive-thru clinic at a site to be determined.
The idea is to dispense vaccine as quickly and efficiently as possible. But it also would serve as rehearsal for large-scale public clinics in the event of a pandemic.
‘‘It will give us practice in vaccinating people in a short amount of time,” Edwards said.
The county is still determining how this would work, but the idea is people would drive to a clinic site, get paperwork and file into lines. Cars would then pull up and nurses, one on each side of the vehicle, would vaccinate people inside. Both shots and mist would be available, Edwards said.
‘‘If we were to have a pandemic and didn’t want people to congregate together, this would be a good way to vaccinate many people,” she said.
It’s an idea that has been used elsewhere. Last year, another Montgomery County — Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — gave the drive-thru idea a test run last year, said Harriet Morton, spokeswoman for that county’s health department.
‘‘It worked very well,” she said, noting that the department distributed 238 doses of vaccine, with an average waiting time of about five minutes. Paperwork took the most time.
The clinic, intended to simulate the kind of a demand that the county would experience in the event of a pandemic, was held at a fire station.
Morton said the idea followed the success of a 2002 drive-thru clinic in which potassium iodide was distributed to people in her county who lived 10 miles from a nuclear plant as a way to protect against exposure to radiation.
Vaccine resources
Adventist Health Care (Washington Adventist Hospital, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital): www.adventisthealthcare.com
Holy Cross Hospital: www.holycrosshealth.org
Montgomery GeneralHospital: www.montgomerygeneral.com
Suburban Hospital: www.suburbanhospital.org.
Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services will hold two flu shot clinics in November. Cost is $20 for adults; there is no charge for children. Medicare is accepted.
Nov. 8 — 9:30 a.m.-noon at East County Recreation Center, 3300 Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring.
Nov. 15 — 9:30 a.m.-noon at Germantown Community Center, 18905 Kingsview Road, Germantown.
For more information, visit www.montgomerycountymd.gov⁄hhstmpl.asp?url=⁄content⁄hhs⁄index.asp or call the county’s immunization information line at 240-777-1050.
Maxim Health Systems, which distributes vaccine at corporate and retail locations, such as area supermarkets, offers www.findaflushot.com for people looking to find vaccine.
