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Wednesday, 11 November 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
With an additional shipment of H1N1 vaccine, Auglaize County Health Department authorities plan to distribute it by appointment Friday.
“We did not receive as much as we would have hoped but are going to try this method to get it out,” Health Commissioner Charlotte Parsons told the Wapakoneta Daily News on Tuesday afternoon.
The vaccine, which is still being given only to priority groups, is scheduled to be administered from 8 to 11 a.m. and from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday at the Health Department, 214 S. Wagner St., in Wapakoneta. Those interested in receiving it need to call ahead to 419-738-3410 for an appointment.
There is no cost for the vaccine and those 9 and under need to plan to receive two doses four weeks apart.
Target groups to receive the vaccination include health care workers with direct patient contact, pregnant women, household contacts and caregivers of children 6-months old or younger, anyone 6-months to 24-years-old, and those 25 to 64 with chronic medical conditions that weaken their immune systems.
Those planning to receive the vaccine are reminded to save time by preregistering at h1n1vaccine.odh.ohio.gov and bringing the form with them to their appointment.
“We’re going to see how this works,” Parsons said.
She said they are tentatively planning another clinic for Dec. 6, in Wapakoneta, if they have enough vaccine at that time.
No location has been confirmed.
“By the end of November, the Ohio Department of Health is expected to have a decision about whether it’s time for us to move into the general population with the vaccine,” Parsons said. “We’re trying to get as many in the target groups covered as we can before the vaccine runs out.”
A mass clinic Sunday in New Bremen went well with 657 doses of the vaccine administered and no one turned away.
“We seem to be having fewer new cases of H1N1,” Parsons said. “Fewer kids are out of school with influenza like illness. We’re getting fewer calls from doctor offices. Usually influenza comes in waves.”
With the county’s last peak approximately three weeks ago, she’s expecting another in three- to nine-weeks.
“We just want to remind people that vaccination is the best way to protect themselves from getting illness,” Parsons said. “They need to get the vaccine when it becomes available for them.
“We wish we had a greater supply so we could get it out now, but as we get it in we are trying to get it out as quickly as possible,” she said.
The county has received one shipment of seasonal flu vaccine since September. Many of those 100 doses are to be used during the regular childhood clinic at the St. Marys Council on Aging today.
“It’s the only shipment we’ve received since September,” Parsons said. “Hopefully it’s not the last.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 November 2009 )
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