Nearly a million doses of H1N1 vaccine for Ariz. Kids, moms-to-be are priority; most others will wait till Dec

About 800,000 to 1 million doses of H1N1 swine-flu vaccine should arrive in Arizona next month, but not everyone who wants a shot will be able to get one right away.

State [...]]]> H1N1 Health Update for Phoenix AZ

Nearly a million doses of H1N1 vaccine for Ariz. Kids, moms-to-be are priority; most others will wait till Dec

About 800,000 to 1 million doses of H1N1 swine-flu vaccine should arrive in Arizona next month, but not everyone who wants a shot will be able to get one right away.

State officials said Tuesday that most of the general public will likely have to wait until at least December for their immunizations.

Health officials are reserving the initial batches for health-care workers and those who most frequently spread the disease or are most at risk of falling severely ill.

Many Arizonans will not have to pay anything for the H1N1 shots, and it’s likely that thousands of children around the state will be given the vaccine at their schools.

The highest-priority groups for getting the shots are infants and young children, kids with chronic health infections and pregnant women. Next in line will be school-age students and adults who care for newborns or have chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes.

“My top priority is kids,” said Will Humble, interim director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, which released its new flu-preparedness plan Tuesday. “October is going to be dominated by them and a couple of other groups.”

The state is expecting its initial big shipment of H1N1 vaccine around Oct. 15, followed by as many as 400,000 additional doses each week from the beginning of November. Vaccinations will be administered through private physicians and in community clinics held in both schools and retail outlets around the state.

Details of the state’s rollout plan were released on the same day that a form of the vaccine was formally approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA sign-off means the vaccine meets manufacturing and quality standards and will allow the shots to be administered as soon as they become available.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Friday that the vaccine is safe.

Getting ready

State and county public-health officials have been preparing their flu-response strategies for months.

Many of those blueprints have focused on rapid dissemination of the H1N1 flu vaccine. They have devised a highly regulated system for ensuring that the highest-risk groups get immunized first.

Any private physician, hospital or clinician wishing to administer the H1N1 shot had to submit a request to the state. The order form included the number of doses desired and for what age groups. More than 5 million doses of vaccine have been requested.

Next week, health officials will prioritize the requests and send them to a private distributor. Once the vaccine is available, that firm will fill part or all of each individual order, depending on availability, sending the shots directly to the pharmacy or health-care provider’s office.

“We don’t touch it (the vaccine)” Humble said. “But nothing gets shipped without our approval.”

That means some physicians will have the vaccine from Day 1 and others won’t.

People will have to call their provider to find out if they have it on hand.

But given the state’s priority groups, it’s likely that the shots will be more readily available at obstetricians’ and pediatricians’ offices.

County officials are concerned that the rollout will cause frustration and confusion for non-priority individuals when they are told the shot isn’t yet available for them. Seniors, in particular, tend to request immunizations in greater numbers than the rest of the population.

“Older adults are very good, compared to the rest of us, about getting their annual flu shots,” said Dr. Bob England, Maricopa County’s public-health director. “But they are one of the lowest-risk groups on the H1N1, so we’re not prioritizing them.”

Public-health experts are asking those who aren’t in one of the designated high-risk groups to wait their turn before trying to obtain a shot, but they acknowledge that enforcement of the tiered system will be difficult.

“Nobody is going to be the vaccine police and show up in the doctor’s office, saying, ‘You shouldn’t have given the shot to this person yet,’ ” England said.

England and other public-health officials are encouraging anyone who wants a seasonal-flu shot to get that vaccination now. There is plenty on hand, and it’s available to anyone.

“Don’t wait,” Humble said.

School-based clinics

Many children in the state will likely be able to get vaccinated against H1N1 through their schools.

Dr. Art Mollen, a Phoenix-area family physician who also runs the Mollen Immunization Clinics, has requested 1.4 million doses of H1N1 vaccine and plans to hold at least 1,000 clinics at schools around the state.

During a typical flu season, Mollen might hold 200 or so school-based clinics.

The effort will target all children 17 and younger, but particularly those in elementary school.

Children have accounted for roughly 70 percent of all new H1N1 cases in Arizona since late August. The state is one of only 11 in the U.S. reporting “widespread” flu activity to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Parents who want their children to participate in the school clinics will need to fill out a consent form, Mollen said.

Mollen, who is already conducting seasonal-flu vaccinations at grocery stores and other retail outlets, said the H1N1 shot will eventually be given to customers alongside the regular flu vaccine once it becomes available.

“We’ll be following the (priority) guidelines pretty closely,” he said.

Source:by Ginger Rough – The Arizona Republic  http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/09/16/20090916fluvaccine0916.html

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Founded in 1983, Children’s Miracle Network generates health care funds [...]]]> Children’s Miracle Network

Children’s Miracle Network and RE/MAX are joined by their desire to provide local community hospitals with modern tools and information. Since RE/MAX became the exclusive real estate sponsor of Children’s Miracle Network in 1992, RE/MAX Associates have raised nearly $75 million for the cause.

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RE/MAX cause marketing and charity fundraising take on many forms. RE/MAX is a national co-sponsor of the Breast Cancer Survivor Recognition Program at Komen Race for the Cure® events. The RE/MAX organization [...]]]> Community Involvement

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