Feb. 10--BUSINESSES interested in holding on-site H1N1 vaccination clinics can call the Monongalia County Health Department at 304-598-5100, the Marion County Health Department at 304-366-3360 or the Preston County Health Department at 304-329-0096.
Local health departments can help businesses in Monongalia, Marion and Preston counties provide H1N1, or swine flu, vaccines to their employees.
Businesses will have to take different steps to get an on-site clinic scheduled -- from calling their local health department to looking into hiring some health care professionals to give the vaccines -- depending on the county in which they're located.
Holly Hildreth, spokeswoman for the Monongalia County Health Department, said the health department will give businesses the vaccines and other materials, such as syringes, as long as those businesses have a way to administer the vaccines.
Businesses could hire health care professionals on their own or have a health care professional on staff who is qualified give the shots, she said.
Hildreth said businesses who don't know where to start could call the health department for guidance.
All vaccines and materials are free, she said, but often health care providers could charge an administration fee for giving the shots. The amount of the fee is up to the individual health care providers.
Jamie Moore, public health emergency response coordinator for the Marion County Health Department, said the health department partners with health care company, Maxim Health Systems, based in Maryland, to provide H1N1 vaccines for Marion County businesses.
Businesses that have 20 or more employees interested in getting a vaccine can have an on-site clinic, Moore said. Professionals from Maxim Health Systems will come to the businesses and administer the shots.
Businesses with fewer employees have the option of coming to the health department to get their shots.
The vaccines will be free to anyone getting them, Moore said, but Maxim Health Systems will charge the health department a fee for each shot administered.
He said the health department has some federal funding set aside to cover the cost of that fee.
The health department received $235,000 in federal funding in 2009 when President Barack Obama declared the H1N1 outbreak a national emergency, Moore said. The funding is meant to cover the cost of public health response to the virus, such as holding clinics.
Moore declined to say how much money the health department set aside or estimate how many people would be able to get a shot from Maxim Health Systems.
"I will say that we have an ample amount of funding to provide this service," he said.
The Preston and Monongalia county health departments also received federal funding to cover the cost of the clinics, staff overtime, supplies, advertising and other costs associated with the health departments' response to the H1N1 outbreak.
Hildreth said Monongalia County received $358,220 in federal public health emergency response funding. Preston County received about $133,807, said Denise Knoebel, administrator for the Preston County Health Department.
Funding amounts differed based on county population and other factors, she said.
Hildreth said health departments are reimbursed the cost of H1N1-related expeditures through the funding.
Knoebel said businesses interested in having an on-site clinic can call the health department to make arrangements.
The service will be free to the business and employees interested in getting the vaccinations, Knoebel said, and health department staff will administer the vaccines.
"We would take care of all of that," she said.
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