Oct. 8--Lots of people want to get vaccinated against swine flu. But most will have to wait, according to Dr. Beverly Loudin, director of safety and quality for the North Shore Physicians Group in Salem.
"We've gotten quite a few calls in my office," she says. The difficulty, however, is that in a country of more than 300 million people only 2.8 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been manufactured thus far.
"Patients are calling on a regular basis to get it," says Loudin. "We're telling them to call back in a few weeks."
The demand for the swine flu vaccine may have had an unfortunate impact on the seasonal flu vaccine.
People get the seasonal flu vaccine every year to ward off the plain, old, ordinary flu -- the one that kills roughly 35,000 Americans annually, according to Marblehead public health nurse Rochelle Bartlett-Ayer.
"Right now there is quite a bit of interest in getting the (seasonal) vaccine," adds Marblehead Health Director Wayne Attridge. It's in short supply, however, because the Centers for Disease Control instructed manufacturers to temporarily drop it the better to concentrate on making the swine flu vaccine instead.
"That's the crux of the problem," says Attridge. Because of the supply problems local health departments are limiting distribution of seasonal flu vaccine to high-risk groups -- people over 65.
Yet, that doesn't mean you can't find it.
More than 300 seniors appeared at the Salem Senior Center yesterday for shots to ward off the seasonal flu. "It's my third year getting it," said Jim Muse of Salem. "I personally think it has helped me."
Dennis and Janet Maker explained that they get the shot every year.
"It works fine," said Ernest Daly.
And just because municipalities are unable to provide vaccines for younger residents doesn't mean they can't be gotten as well at local pharmacies.
For example, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis says, "We are holding scheduled flu clinics in most of our stores." Those under 18 are barred, but Medicare is accepted and the cost is approximately $25.
State officials are reporting that the first supplies of H1N1 vaccine have arrived. These are not shots, but a less potent nasal spray, which will be used for health-care workers and healthy children.
The folks at the Salem Senior Center yesterday weren't certain that they even want the H1N1 -- despite assurances from federal officials that the vaccine is safe.
"I need more facts," said Janet Maker. "I don't know if I want to have it or not. I'm just learning about it."
"I think I'm going to pass," said Muse. "I'm over 70."
Loudin downplays such fears. "People should know they've been getting H1 and N1 antigens in the seasonal flu vaccine for years."
ABC television medical editor Dr. Tim Johnson, a Marblehead resident, told The Salem News there is a lot of uncertainty about the H1N1.
"The only thing one can say for sure about H1N1 is we don't know what is going to happen. These viruses can change very quickly (mutate), like the seasonal flu."
The swine flu is expected to have an unequal impact on various groups. In other words, Johnson confirms, seniors are believed to be less vulnerable to H1N1 than people in the prime of life. He sees an advantage to this, allowing officials to distribute limited supplies mainly to the groups that need them most.
Johnson expects to get a seasonal vaccine and the H1N1 "only if there is plenty left over."
Swine flu has killed about 1,000 people, according to Bartlett-Ayer, with "more cases than expected in the South." It's the potential of the disease and the fear that it could mutate into a deadlier, vaccine-resistant illness that has raised alarms. Some have seen comparisons to past flu viruses
Loudin concedes that the "potential" exists for a pandemic like the 1918 flu outbreak, which killed as many as 100 million people by some counts. On the other hand, she says, no vaccines were available in 1918.
Salem's public health nurse Tracy Giarla, cautions against any media-driven fear of the flu. "We don't want to scare people. We want people to be educated."
Stopping the spread of any flu, says Bartlett-Ayer, is first a matter of washing your hands regularly. "Cover your mouth when you cough. Cough into your elbow. ... If you're sick do not go to work. Stay home and take care of yourself."
The seasonal flu might be all that's needed to persuade you to do just that. It hits you, says Bartlett-Ayer, "like you've been run over by a Mack truck."
Staff writer Ethan Forman contributed to this story.
-----
To see more of The Salem News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.salemnews.com/.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.
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.
NYSE:DIS,