Vaccine supply line opens up

By Pat Caldwell
Argus Observer
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 10:56 AM PST

Ontario — The supply line to furnish H1N1 vaccine to the Malheur County Health Department functions better, but the local agency still is not in a position to know how much of the serum it will garner each week.

“We still don’t know for sure when we will be able to order it. We’ve received a few hundred doses each week,” Malheur County Health Department RN Tammie Dockter said Friday. Dockter said the agency receives e-mail from the state outlining the allocations for each county each week and then the department orders its share. While cumbersome, the process is a far cry from the one in October when the state told the department it would receive no vaccine.

“We did not get any vaccine the week of Oct. 12,” Dockter said.

That week, though, proved to be anomaly, Dockter said. Still, the health department does not carry an unlimited supply of the H1N1 vaccine, and therefore, its immunization focus is still on high priority groups.

“So we’ve been trying to be responsible and provide vaccine to our partner providers — BiMart, Wal-Greens, pharmacies — and we’ve been able to supply the pediatric clinics with more doses each week,” Dockter said.

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Dockter said from Sept. 1 through Nov. 10, there have been 1,015 confirmed H1N1 hospitalizations in 33 Oregon counties and 33 deaths from H1N1 in 12 counties.

In Malheur County, three people were hospitalized because of H1N1 or H1N1 complications. None of those people died. Dockter said, of the Oregon deaths linked to H1N1, 92 percent boasted an underlying health condition.

“From the epidemiology side of things, we are seeing the ones with underlying health conditions are the ones getting sick and going to the hospital,” Dockter said.

While the vaccine supply line has opened up, Dockter said the number of people who seek H1N1 immunizations has declined slightly.

“It has been less. We’ve not had the packed, standing room only waiting rooms we initially had,” she said. Dockter said the health department, as long as the vaccine holds out, is still offering extended hours in order to give H1N1 immunizations. She said the office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the week and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday to give H1N1 vaccinations. Dockter said she also wanted to dispel a rumor regarding the planned, and then canceled, school immunizations.

“Some parents’ perceptions, since we canceled the school clinics, is that school age children didn't need vaccine anymore. Clinics were canceled because of the supply of vaccine. We still want school-age children to be vaccinated,” she said.