KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Mat-Su doles out H1N1 vaccine

Mat-Su doles out H1N1 vaccine

by Lori Tipton
Tuesday, October 13, 2009

WASILLA, Alaska -- Public health officials in the Mat-Su are handing out hundreds of doses of the H1N1 vaccine to children and teenagers.

The state received 4,200 doses of the vaccine last week and another shipment of nearly 12,000 arrived Tuesday.

The Mat-Su Public Health Center held a mass dispensing clinic Tuesday for children ages 2 to 18. Soon the vaccine will be available to adults, as well.

At the health center parents filled out the necessary paperwork to make sure their child could get a flu shot.

"We are making every attempt to get the vaccine out to the population that needs it," said Jane Conrad, the nurse manager at the clinic.

Last week, the center received 520 doses of the H1N1 vaccine to give to just children and teenagers.

State health officials insisted that the first batch go to kids because they have the highest rates of hospitalization from the flu of any age group.

"When they look at the statistics, the amount of people who wind up ill with H1N1, about 50 percent of them are under 25. That's very unusual. With seasonal influenza we see that with people over 65," Conrad said.

Patty Sullivan -- who is the Mat-Su Borough's spokesperson -- brought her daughter, Cassiopeia King, to get the vaccine.

"She took it like a statue. I was surprised, it was as though we were just sitting there and nothing happened," Sullivan said.

The vaccine is given through a nasal spray, so it is quick and painless.

"If there's a tool that will protect her, why not use it? It also allays my fears of the rare cases where some kids have really been affected by the flu," she said.

The clinic says it will likely run out of vaccines within a couple of days.

In Anchorage, more are coming in. About 12,000 doses arrived Tuesday afternoon. These will be re-packaged and distributed statewide to hospitals, pediatricians and family practice clinics.

"(It will go) where we feel that it has the best chance of getting right into the arms and the noses of our five priority groups," said Greg Wilkinson, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Public Health.

Those five priority groups of who should get the vaccine include: pregnant women, anyone who lives with or cares for a child under 6 months old, anyone aged 6 months through 24, anyone from 25 to 64 with pre-existing health conditions and people who work in the medical field or who are emergency responders.

The vaccines will likely go fast, but state health officials say more will soon be on the way.

"We'll be receiving vaccine for at least the next couple of months," Wilkinson said.

At the clinic, children were able to get the nasal spray for H1N1 and a shot for seasonal flu. Both are available in nasal spray form, but only one should be used unless the vaccines are a month apart from one another.

Meanwhile, the state's supply of seasonal flu shots is quickly dwindling. Health officials say demand is outpacing supply.

According to the Department of Public Health, heightened awareness about the flu is part of the reason why more people are getting flu shots.

And this year's seasonal flu vaccine arrived a month earlier than in previous years.

"There's always a group of people who want to be the first ones to go out and get their flu shots and I think that's great. What's happened now is the increased interest has gone ahead of the supply," said Wilkinson.

Even though some clinics have run out of seasonal flu vaccines, health officials say there is not a shortage.

The Public Health Department is still waiting to hear from the Centers for Disease Control on when the next shipment of vaccines will arrive.

They expect more doses sometime later this week and those will be dispensed across the state.

Contact Lori Tipton at ltipton@ktuu.com