Florida, October 09: The first swine flu vaccine arrived in Florida on Thursday, in Jefferson and St. Johns counties two northern Florida counties that together have had only one flu death since the H1N1 influenza began its spread in April.
The vaccines are part of 102,000 doses the state will get as its first batch from manufacturers this week. Miami-Dade and Broward counties, with 31 flu deaths, don’t expect their first vaccines until the middle of next week, and plan to start vaccinations a week from Monday, on Oct. 19 — entirely on school-age achildren.
It’s the beginning of a nationwide campaign that aims to vaccinate more than half of the country’s 305 million population before year’s end.
It was up to the vaccine distributor to decide where to ship first, said Department of Health press secretary Doc Kokol.
“The reason these counties got theirs first is likely they were small orders, they were placed quickly, and likely, McKesson, who is the distributor, was able to package it quickly and get it out early,” Kokol said.
H1N1 flu continues to spread in Florida, especially among school children, state Surgeon General Dr. Ana Viamonte Ros said Thursday at a press briefing with Gov. Charlie Crist. Most years, only about 2 percent of emergency room visits by children are for influenza, she said.
“This year it’s 7 percent and rising,” she said.
Since April, Florida has had 109 deaths from swine flu, Ros said.
“The mortality is above what’s expected [for flu] for this time of year,” she said.
Miami-Dade County has had 312 swine flu hospitalizations and 22 deaths; Broward has had 69 hospitalizations and nine deaths.
The federal government said that everyone who wants a vaccination will be able top get one by the end of the year. Vaccine supplies will be shipped nationwide by manufacturers as they are made. Florida, with 6 percent of the nation’s population, will get 6 percent of the doses, Ros said.
Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe health departments will announce their vaccination plans in a joint press conference. It is expected that the first doses will go to groups with the most critical needs: young people, pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions, all of whom are particularly vulnerable to H1N1, and healthcare workers and those who care for infants under 6 months old, who cannot be vaccinated.
All of the state’s first 102,000 doses of vaccine are in a nasal spray form called FluMist, because manufacturers finished those doses first. By next week, Crist said he hopes the vaccine will start to arrive in injection form.
Crist said that Tamiflu and other antiviral medications designed to treat H1N1 flu are in adequate supply at commercial pharmacies around the state.
–Agencies