Officials in PA and NY watching H1N1

Vaccine doses declared safe

By TOM KANE

REGION — There’s a great deal of activity and advice in both New York and Pennsylvania among health care officials regarding the H1N1 flu epidemic that some are already calling a pandemic.

In Sullivan County, health officials say that they have received a limited shipment of the vaccine and are working on a plan to distribute it.

“There were several cases of swine flu in the bungalows during the summer, but all the cases were mild and quickly resolved,” said Carol Ryan of the county’s Department of Public Heath.

“After the number of cases of swine flu calmed down after the summer, we are now beginning to see more cases,” said Rolland Bojo, director of professional nursing services at Catskill Regional Medical Center. The hospital is dispensing the vaccine to health care workers but has no plans to dispense it to the public as yet, he said.

Governor David Patterson of New York has removed a mandate that all high-risk health workers receive the vaccine. “I think this is because we don’t have a sufficient supply of the vaccine,” Bojo said.

In Wayne County, PA, Wayne Memorial Hospital has seen only one mild case of H1N1 that quickly receded in 24 hours. “Those coming in now with symptoms only have seasonal flu,” said Lisa Champeau, Wayne Memorial public relations director.

The hospital has received 1,900 doses of what is called live H1N1 that will be administered nasally, she said. The hospital is offering it to local schools—Damascus Elementary, Lake Wallenpaupack Elementary and Lake Elementary in Honesdale.

Those children who receive the nasal vaccine can not receive another for 28 days, Campeau said.

“We have heard that some pregnant women do not want to take the vaccine for fear it will affect their babies, and that others don’t want to take the vaccine, but we haven’t seen cases of this ourselves,” she said.

According to a report from Wayne Memorial’s infectious disease specialist Dr. Rosita Liu, the vaccine has been ruled safe by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). “The vaccine production went through the same manufacturing process as the seasonal flu vaccine, which has been produced annually for decades,” Liu said.

Liu stated that the regular seasonal flu shot will not protect a person from H1N1.

On November 3, the PA health department announced that the CDC has allocated more than 566,000 swine flu doses of the vaccine for distribution in the state in coming weeks. While delays in vaccine production have occurred, the department is placing orders as soon as the vaccine is allocated to ensure it reaches Pennsylvania residents as quickly as possible, officials said.

In New York, Paterson has suspended section 6902 of the Education Law to permit other health care workers, including physicians, special assistants, pharmacists, dentists, certain dental hygienists, midwives and emergency medical personnel to administer vaccinations after they have received training, according to a health department press release.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has a website where residents can monitor new developments in the epidemic. It is www.h1n1inpa.com.

In New York, the Department of Health website is www.nyhealth.gov.