Full supply of flu vaccine earmarked for Blaine County
Health department schedules immunization shots ahead of flu season
Flu shot clinics in Hailey and Carey are scheduled from Oct. 17 to
Nov. 7.
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
In the wake of national concerns over shortages in flu vaccine production
and delays in delivery, the South Central District Health Department in Twin Falls has
released its fall flu vaccination schedule for Blaine County.
The dates this year are about two weeks later than usual, but still early
enough, the health department says, for shots to be administered before the flu season
hits.
The department says it expects to receive enough vaccine from its
Pennsylvania-based supplier, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, to fulfill the expected demand of
6,500 doses in the eight-county Magic Valley region.
Flu shot clinics in Hailey and Carey are scheduled from Oct. 17 to Nov. 7.
Health department immunization coordinator Linda Chapton-Frazier said in a
telephone interview Friday that the scheduled dates should give shot recipients enough
time to develop an immunity before the flu season starts in late November or early
December. Typically, a person requires about two weeks after receiving a shot to develop
immunity, she said.
Healthcare providers have been worried about possible delays and shortages
since the four national flu vaccine manufacturers announced they were having trouble
producing the Panama strain of the bug in July.
On Thursday, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) said public health officials had announced they expect flu vaccine supplies to be
approximate to what was distributed last year. But supplies will likely arrive late, the
CDC said, probably near the end of October.
That date would make it impossible for the local health department to meet
its mid-October schedule. But immunization coordinator Chapton-Frazier said Wyeth-Ayerst
Laboratories, has said it will deliver vaccine to the Magic Valley in early October.
"We’re all just trying to think positive and plan that
we’re going to have our vaccine," she said.
In a press release, the CDC states that flu vaccine is the best tool to
prevent severe illness and death related to influenza among elderly and chronically ill
people in the United States.
The CDC estimates that a total 75 million doses will be available
nationally this season, which should meet the expected usual demand.
The shots don’t guarantee a person won’t get the flu,
Chapton-Frazier said, but they do guarantee a case of the flu will be less severe than
usual.
Otherwise healthy people who get the shot have a 10 percent chance of
getting the flu during the flu season, she said. She said she doesn’t know what the
chances are for someone not getting the shot.
She said the shot produces no side-effects.
For those covered by Medicare/Medicaid, the shot is free, she said;
otherwise, the charge is $10 or less, depending on a person’s income.
For more information, call the South Central District Health Department at
(208) 734-5900.
