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Texas local official calls for wider vaccination against A/H1N1 flu
Source: Agencies |
November 29, 2009, Sunday
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A HEALTH official in the US Texas state called on Saturday for the federal government to allow wider distribution of the A/H1N1 flu vaccine, particularly as more vaccine appears to be headed toward North Texas pharmacies this week.
With a population of 2.4 million, Dallas County, in northeast Texas, has received a total of 439,000 A/H1N1 vaccine doses for distribution to the high-risk groups.
Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, said he was concerned that the vaccine supply had not found enough takers among the targeted high-risk groups.
"It's time for the federal government to open it up beyond the priority groups," Thompson said.
For now, the CDC recommends giving the vaccine only to people in high-risk groups, including pregnant women, young people between the ages of six months and 24 years old, and people aged from 25 to 64 who have underlying health problems such as diabetes.
Thompson said it was time for a broader vaccination effort before public interest waned.
"We could end up throwing away a lot of vaccine," he warned. "I think we have to open it up, and we need to act on that quickly."
Thompson said he and his staff would consult with local pharmacy representatives tomorrow to determine how well the stores were able to distribute available doses of A/H1N1 vaccine to people who identified themselves as high-risk over the last two weeks, as well as how soon the stores would receive vaccine that was ordered through the federal government months ago.
"I'm hearing the pharmacies should be getting the vaccine they ordered this week," Thompson said. "If that's true, we need to move to the next phase of the distribution plan."
Local reports said some stores in the county still had hundreds of shots available for people in high-risk groups, adding that several pharmacists at those stores agreed that interest in the shots appeared to be falling in recent days.
Over the weekend, a number of counties in US southeast state of Florida also are considering to offer vaccinations to the general public next week.
Even federal health officials are considering the similar possibility. "In the coming weeks we'll definitely be at the point where people won't have to go out of their way to find it (vaccine for A/H1N1)," said Tom Skinner, spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nationwide, the A/H1N1 vaccination effort, which has been delayed by manufacturing problems, is to inoculate as many as 200 million Americans against the strain when the vaccine has become more widely available, federal officials have said.
The CDC has so far allocated 61.2 million doses of the vaccine around the country, but health officials say more doses will come soon.
"We're expecting to see vaccination efforts step up in concert with improved supplies," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said earlier in the week. "We really do think that December will be a big month for vaccinations."
With a population of 2.4 million, Dallas County, in northeast Texas, has received a total of 439,000 A/H1N1 vaccine doses for distribution to the high-risk groups.
Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, said he was concerned that the vaccine supply had not found enough takers among the targeted high-risk groups.
"It's time for the federal government to open it up beyond the priority groups," Thompson said.
For now, the CDC recommends giving the vaccine only to people in high-risk groups, including pregnant women, young people between the ages of six months and 24 years old, and people aged from 25 to 64 who have underlying health problems such as diabetes.
Thompson said it was time for a broader vaccination effort before public interest waned.
"We could end up throwing away a lot of vaccine," he warned. "I think we have to open it up, and we need to act on that quickly."
Thompson said he and his staff would consult with local pharmacy representatives tomorrow to determine how well the stores were able to distribute available doses of A/H1N1 vaccine to people who identified themselves as high-risk over the last two weeks, as well as how soon the stores would receive vaccine that was ordered through the federal government months ago.
"I'm hearing the pharmacies should be getting the vaccine they ordered this week," Thompson said. "If that's true, we need to move to the next phase of the distribution plan."
Local reports said some stores in the county still had hundreds of shots available for people in high-risk groups, adding that several pharmacists at those stores agreed that interest in the shots appeared to be falling in recent days.
Over the weekend, a number of counties in US southeast state of Florida also are considering to offer vaccinations to the general public next week.
Even federal health officials are considering the similar possibility. "In the coming weeks we'll definitely be at the point where people won't have to go out of their way to find it (vaccine for A/H1N1)," said Tom Skinner, spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nationwide, the A/H1N1 vaccination effort, which has been delayed by manufacturing problems, is to inoculate as many as 200 million Americans against the strain when the vaccine has become more widely available, federal officials have said.
The CDC has so far allocated 61.2 million doses of the vaccine around the country, but health officials say more doses will come soon.
"We're expecting to see vaccination efforts step up in concert with improved supplies," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said earlier in the week. "We really do think that December will be a big month for vaccinations."
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