Flu shots will be offered earlier than in previous years, but they won't protect people from the H1N1 influenza or swine flu, which has reached pandemic status this year. That's because flu vaccine manufacturers are working fervently to come up with the 160 million doses that the federal government has consented to buy.
Jim McVay said the Alabama Department of Public Health is still encouraging people to get their traditional flu shots as health departments across the nation wait for the new vaccine to be ready.
"That's the message we are promoting," said McVay, who is the director of the bureau of health promotion for the department. "Traditional flu vaccine will be in ample supply."
McVay said the traditional vaccine won't provide any protection against swine flu, but a traditional flu has continued to circulate all summer and it's a good idea to get vaccinated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, between 5 and 20 percent of the U.S. population gets traditional influenza. More than 200,000 people are hospitalized because of flu-related complications and about 36,000 people die yearly from flu-related causes.
McVay said that there would be 119 million doses available nationwide and health departments likely would begin getting them as early as next month.
He said it could be November or December before the state gets any vaccine specifically aimed at swine flu.
But you won't be able to rush out and get vaccinated against swine flu when the new vaccine does start to flow into the state. There is some doubt that manufactures will be able to produce the 160 million doses the federal government wants.
McVay said people who are most susceptible to contracting swine flu would be eligible to receive the vaccine first. In Alabama, there have been nearly 550 confirmed cases of swine flu and 67 percent of those cases were children younger than 18.
McVay said children between 6 months and 18 likely would be eligible to receive the new vaccine, as would pregnant women, teachers, health care workers and parents of young children.
In a recent news briefing, Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, made a special appeal to health workers to get their flu shots so that they don't spread influenza to their patients.
"We have recommended health care workers get the seasonal flu vaccine for years," she said. "This year in particular we want to keep health-care workers healthy at work, able to care for sick patients, and we don't want them to be spreading influenza to their patients."
Schuchat also pointed out that it is recommended that 83 percent of people get annual flu vaccine, but only 40 percent of the U.S. population did so last year. She said the CDC is recommending that anyone who can get vaccinated against traditional flu do so. To see more of the Montgomery Advertiser, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.