H1N1 Vaccine: Are YOU getting it?

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Durkee on October 28, 2009 at 3:01am

I was scheduled to get it today... they were out of it.

But I did get my seasonal flu shot. Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) has about 1.75 million people; we recieved 14,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine on Oct. 8th, and are scheduled to receive 8,800 more on Friday.

I think we're all gonna have to be patient for the H1N1 vaccine.

I am flying back to D.C. tomorrow for an update and the NCR Senior Leaders Seminar on Monday so I'll know more next week.

-Tom

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Durkee on October 31, 2009 at 5:35am

Here is a short video on how the H1N1 vaccine is produced:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

There will be a 60 minutes segment on the vaccine this Sunday @ 7pm.

--Tom

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Permalink Reply by Robert Sullivan on October 31, 2009 at 9:19am

Has anyone else looked at Mike McEvoy's JEMS webinar? It's a few mouse clicks away and FREE! It answered lots of questions I had amid the media frenzy. The media has turned this into a pseudo-political debate, with pundits of questionable credentials on each side the vaccine issue fighting for higher ratings. Can we please stick to CDC stuff and stop siting CNN and 60 Minutes?

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Permalink Reply by Robert Sullivan on October 31, 2009 at 9:19am

Has anyone else looked at Mike McEvoy's JEMS webinar? It's a few mouse clicks away and FREE! It answered lots of questions I had amid the media frenzy. The media has turned this into a pseudo-political debate, with pundits of questionable credentials on each side the vaccine issue fighting for higher ratings. Can we please stick to CDC stuff and stop siting CNN and 60 Minutes?

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Durkee on November 1, 2009 at 10:07pm

As a public health professional with over 20 years of EMS experience - -

It's my opinion that 60 minutes has it exactly right. 60 minutes does a GREAT job on explaining the vaccine, the vaccine production process, and the truth behind the rumors & innuendo put forth on opinion TV.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5486397n&tag=related;pho...

I haven't seen Mr. McEvoy's webinar (perhaps you could provide the link, and I'll take a listen) but as with anything, I'll listen/watch it and give my opinion. 60 minutes has it right, although I wish they would have went into the 1976 swine flu vaccine disaster in more depth. It would certainly explain WHY there is so much pushback for this new vaccine by those who lived through the worst public health vaccination disaster is U.S. history.

In the meantime, check out the CDC's vaccine website here:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/


There is a section specifically for health care clinicians. Oh, and as a side note: I still haven't gotten my set of H1N1 vaccinations (the vaccine comes in a set of two), because Silicon Valley ran out and now I am in Washington D.C. where there isn't enough of the vaccine for everyone. Since I no longer treat patients on a daily basis, I will forgo the vaccine until all EMS & medical/healthcare clinicians get the shots.

-Tom

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Durkee on November 1, 2009 at 10:54pm

Here is a vaccine supply summary as of last Friday:

To see how much vaccine was shipped to YOUR area (your state or your city), click this:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/vaccinesupply.htm

Again, all figures were updated last Friday.

--Tom

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Permalink Reply by Patience Ryan on November 3, 2009 at 4:26am

so far from the news here it sounds like this county at least doesn't have any of the shots, just the nasal one. So really even if I wasn't allergic to eggs I probably couldn't get the shot yet. Also back about a month ago I think there were some minor rumblings that some in this state wanted to have the flu vaccine be mandatory for health care providers. I can understand the reasoning behind it but still. I would be interested to see what they would do with us who can't have any of the flu shots....I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who can't.

Joe P. said:

Duncan Hitchcock said:

We start providing the vaccine free to our personnel next week; nasal or injection (being over 49, I have to go with the shot).

Medical providers should not get the nasal vaccine. One of the huge differences between the nasal vaccine and the injection is that the injection uses inactive viruses while the nasal vaccine uses weakened viruses. Thus, the nasal vaccine can cause you to shed live viruses and infect others. While that may not be too be of an issue and danger for the vast majority of civilians, people in the health care field tend to people with weakened immune systems and come in close contact with numerous people in their day to day work. This increases the chance that the flu can be spread while the provider is shedding the virus from the vaccine.

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Permalink Reply by ES on November 3, 2009 at 4:46am

I got the H1N1 Shot in NY on October 15. I didn't notice any short term side effects or issues.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Durkee on November 4, 2009 at 2:35pm

Last night (Tuesday, Nov 3rd) the Washington D.C. Dept of Health held another H1N1 vaccination event at both Hardy Middle School and Woodrow Wilson Sr. High School (Tenleytown). I was the coordinator at the Wilson Sr. High event.

We vaccinated well over 2,000 people at Wilson alone with the help of D.C. Police & EMS. The vaccination was open only to those on the Priority List (pregnant women, children, sick ppl, and healthcare workers) and since it was held at a high school, we only had 5 hours between 5-10pm to move the people through. We had to turn some people away because of the time constraint. We had plenty of all forms of the vaccine but the public had a lot of questions about the vaccine which tells me that the media isn't doing a good job getting the information out, yet due to the increase in H1N1 news stories in the past couple of weeks, most of the population understands the need to be vaccinated and are showing up at our sites to get the shot without first talking to their doctor or getting complete information from the web (CDC site).

You can read about the D.C. public's opinion of our vaccination efforts on this blog:
http://dcist.com/2009/11/my_h1n1_vaccine_experience.php

We are one of the lucky jurisdictions; our vaccination efforts have hit full stride and we seem to have enough vaccine to meet demand, at least for those on the Priority List. We vaccinate the priority group DC citizens on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and so far, we have not yet run out of vaccine short of the nasal spray, which we've only run out only once.

Right now the CDC reports the vaccine is being produced at close to 10 million units per week, with 8 million doses being produced last week. The CDC had hoped to have 41 million units produced by the end of October, but as of Nov. 2nd, only about 31 million were created and shipped. The H1N1 virus simply wasn't growing very fast in those initial vaccine eggs. I expect vaccine production to peak somewhere close to Thanksgiving yet the public's demand for the vaccine is beginning to peak right now.

Yet the caseload of H1N1 hospitalizations continue to increase far more than we are able to vaccinate. H1N1 is now widespread in 48 states and hospital admissions have spiked in the last 10 days, particularly with children. Now is the time for EMS to help.

I would ask each of you reading this post to read and understand the nuances of the H1N1 vaccine so that you are able to discuss it with your community members. Understand and be able to explain the criteria to belong to the priority group (pregnancy, or attempting to become pregnant within the next year, children age 2-24yrs, sick people particularly those with respiratory illnesses or illnesses that compromise the immune system, and health care workers that come into contact with patients). Childcare workers are also eligible to receive the vaccine. Also please be able to explain the difference between the live virus (LAIV = Flu Mist, the Nasal Spray) and dead virus (TIV = "the shot") as well as the fact that those over 10-years-old will need to receive a SECOND (booster) shot after 28-days of receiving the first innoculation. Healthcare workers and pregnant women shouldn't receive the live vaccine (the nasal spray). Pregnant women should see their doctor before getting vaccinated.

As you can see there are a lot of nuances with this vaccine that has the public confused. I am very happy the public is aware of the vaccine and is actively taking steps to become innoculated, but given the amount of questions I fielded last night, it is clear that the public is not yet fully informed about the vaccine.

This is where EMS can help - -If you are able to answer questions by knowing the in's-and-out's of the vaccine, it would certainly help. If you can volunteer at a vaccination event as an EMT (you won't be giving the actual shot, but you will probably help with crowd control and be able to answer questions), that would be even better. The United States has not attempted such a large vaccination program since the mid-1970's and I think we can all agree that '76 Swine Flu vaccine campaign was an absolute disaster.

So what I am saying is: get yourself informed and talk to your family, neighbors, and community members about H1N1 and the vaccine. Put EMS in a prominant position as a knowlegable healthcare/allied health field at a time when your community and country needs you the most. If you have the time to volunteer, then do it. If not, then please discuss it with your friends and family. Word-of-mouth is an effective informational campaign in as long as the information given is accurate and complete.

Thank you,
Tom Durkee MBA MPH MHCA EMT-P
D.C. Dept. of Health HEPRA
Health Emergency Preparedness & Response Administration

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Permalink Reply by Skip Kirkwood on November 4, 2009 at 6:31pm

Got it today and glad I did.

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Permalink Reply by dr-exmedic on November 4, 2009 at 7:39pm

Got my regular flu shot last week and my H1N1 yesterday (or was it Monday?). I'm doing peds over Dec-Jan, and want to be ready for those snot-loving dirty monsters! :D

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Durkee on November 9, 2009 at 1:14am

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