Brisk demand for H1N1 vaccine

Since Eastern North Carolina health departments began to receive doses of H1N1 vaccine in mid-October, county health officials report that demand for shots has been brisk — for both standard seasonal flu vaccines as well as H1N1 doses.

In some regions, health workers report that higher-than-normal demand for seasonal flu vaccine is even causing shortages.

“We’ve got an ample supply of H1N1 (vaccine) right at the moment,” George O’Daniel, health director for the Onslow County Health Department, said. “But we have had difficulty in getting regular flu vaccine.”

So far this year, he said, the OCHD has administered 5,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine, a 25 percent increase over the doses administered last year. The Onslow and Carteret county health departments report that they are out of doses for seasonal flu, with backorders of 900 doses in Onslow County and 350 doses in Carteret — and some doubt as to whether they will receive the requested doses.

“We’re still having people ask for it,” Mary Fournier, public information officer for the Carteret County Health Department, said. Fournier said she hoped that the extra doses would eventually arrive, even if they arrive as late as December, because the seasonal flu threat extends into early spring.

The director of the Craven County Health Department, Scott Harrelson, said the county had administered all of the 1,200 seasonal flu doses it ordered, but officials were not planning to order more, choosing to focus on treating H1N1 as well.

“We’ve been dispensing doses as soon as we get them,” Harrelson said. “When this is all said and done we’ll be giving away many more doses of H1N1 than we will of seasonal flu.”

All counties reported that administration of the H1N1 vaccine was progressing smoothly, without any reports of adverse physical reaction to the vaccine other than redness at the injection site, a typical side effect of flu vaccination.

O’Daniel said that the county averaged 400 to 600 H1N1 vaccinations per scheduled flu clinic and has administered about 2,000 doses to high-risk populations. The county received 6,000 doses this month. Fournier said Carteret County has received 1,450 doses to date, and officials said the Craven County Health Department has been getting doses in small weekly shipments, with about 1,380 doses administered so far.

The Lenoir County Health Department has a back order for several hundred seasonal vaccines and has limited H1N1 doses.

“Our supply was been very limited so far,” Director Joey Huff said. “The situation is not going to improve any time soon because production of the vaccine has been delayed.”

Five pharmaceutical companies globally produce the vaccine, with only two in the United States. The process is time-consuming: the egg base culture which grows the H1N1 virus must be tested for purity, the culture requires growth time, the finished vaccine must be bottled and distributed globally.

“We have received less than 1,000 H1N1 doses,” Huff said. “The first delivery was 300 doses, with a weekly average of 100 doses after the initial one, although some weeks there have been none.”

As of two weeks ago, almost 20 million doses of seasonal vaccine were ready to be shipped to U.S. customers.

“Our order was placed last March. We may get some of this shipment or we may not, and if we do, we don’t know when it will arrive,” Huff said.

Huff said 146 doses were administered at the sign-up H1N1 clinic for 6-month to 6-year-olds, while 500 doses were available. The second clinic was open to up to 18-year-olds and about 60 doses were administered.

“We also supply the staff and patients at Britthaven Nursing Home, pharmacies, community physician’s offices for patients and staff, and Howell Daycare staff and children,” Melanie Palmer, nursing director, said. “Added to our clinics, we have administered about 1,000 doses.”

The next step for county health departments is to bring the flu shots into local schools, hoping to reach elementary-school children, who fall within the high risk six-month to 24-year age range who might live farther away from clinic locations. Parents are required to give written permission for their children to receive the vaccine, which comes in the form of a nasal mist.

“In grades K-5 in Kinston and Lenoir County schools, I need 4,022 doses,” Palmer said. “That’s doses I don’t have.”

While no county reported a marked reluctance from the public to get H1N1 vaccine in the form of an injection, some parents are unwilling to have their children receive the mist, since it contains a live form of the virus.

Huff said typically about half of Lenoir County elementary school parents have given consent, but only 10 to 15 percent have in the middle and high school levels.

Fournier said that roughly 50 percent of parental respondents in the county’s outreach to local schools consented to have their children receive the vaccine.

But Summerly Cotton, adult health clinical coordinator for the Craven County Health Department, said the statistics can be difficult to read, as some parents have already taken their children to get flu injections.

Overall, it seems that the advance preparation for H1N1 vaccine demand has paid off on the county level.

“Patients have been very pleased that there’s not a long wait to receive the vaccine,” O’Daniel said. “Nobody that’s interested in getting the vaccine has been turned away, and we’re not having delays.”

Nancy S. Saunders contributed to this article. Contact Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.