 "Photo: Josh Shannon")
Nearly 300 university students and employees received the swine flu vaccine last week as part of Student Health Service’s first H1N1 vaccine clinic open to the general university community.
Previously, distribution of the vaccine was limited to at-risk populations, including health care workers, pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses. State health officials lifted those limitations Dec. 31.
Last week, the university received 2,300 doses of the vaccine and held the first of several clinics at Laurel Hall, said Dr. Joseph Siebold, director of Student Health Service. Two more clinics are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday.
Any student or employee interested in getting the vaccine can make an appointment online or by calling Student Health Service. The shots are administered free of charge as part of a federal program.
“We have been advised by the state that we will receive additional doses and that everyone who wants the vaccine will eventually be able to get it,” Siebold stated in an e-mail message.
The university received its first doses in November and offered them to more than 2,000 students who fell under the state-mandated distribution guidelines. Approximately half of those students signed up to receive the vaccine last fall, Siebold said.
More than 300 students have been diagnosed with flu-like symptoms since September. University officials announced last fall that all cases of flu would be treated as the H1N1 swine flu strain.
As of late last semester, none of those cases required hospitalization, nor did they cause widespread concern on campus like a minor outbreak did in April.
Vaccine available around state
Student Health Service is not the only option for students seeking the swine flu vaccine. Pharmacies around the state, including Happy Harry’s on Main Street, are also offering the shot for free.
“There have been people trickling in,” said Jon Reitz, a regional pharmacy director for Walgreen’s, the parent company of Happy Harry’s. “We’ve been giving a steady number of shots.”
Most of the people coming to Happy Harry’s locations across the state have been between 18 and 24 years old, Reitz said. He was not able to provide the number of vaccines the pharmacy has distributed.
By law, pharmacists can only administer flu shots to patients over the age of 18.
Since October, the state Division of Public Health has administered more than 300,000 swine flu vaccines, according to Jennifer Wooleyhand, a DPH spokeswoman. Another 49,000 doses will arrive in the state this week.
The shots were originally limited to healthcare professionals, and availability was eventually expanded to other at-risk groups, including school children. Since November, teams from DPH have been going into Delaware schools to vaccinate students whose parents signed a permission form.
In an interview last week, Heidi Truschel-Light, another DPH spokeswoman, would not specifically say why grade school students received the vaccine before the general university population, saying only that DPH followed guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
By the end of December, supplies of the vaccine increased enough that state officials could lift the regulations on distribution of the vaccine.
“This is possible due to an increase in 2009 H1N1 vaccine supply and because 75 percent of the vaccine that was requested by providers for high-risk populations has been shipped to them,” Wooleyhand said in a statement.
DPH has also been holding public vaccination clinics including one last weekend at the New Castle Farmer’s Market.
Flu level downgraded
On Thursday, officials downgraded the state’s influenza activity level from “widespread” to “sporadic.”
“Although we continue to see influenza-like illness throughout the state, the level of activity has remained at a consistent and lower level for the past six weeks than was seen previously, and a lack of increases in cases is part of the CDC guideline for the designation of sporadic,” Wooleyhand said.
Since October, the state has seen 1,972 cases of swine flu, officials say.
Delaware’s flu levels mirror a national trend, according to the CDC, which reports that flu activity nationwide is on the decline. Only Alabama is still reporting widespread activity.
But one day before officials downgraded the state’s flu activity level, they announced the state’s sixth swine flu-related death. The patient, a 56-year-old Kent County woman, died Jan. 2 after a 16-day hospitalization.
Like most of the other Delawareans to die from the illness, the woman had several underlying health conditions.
Health officials say the death should serve as a reminder that swine flu is still prevalent, and encourage the public to get the vaccine.
“Just because the flu is at a low level in Delaware now doesn’t mean it won’t be coming back, and vaccination is the best possible protection and prevention method we have,” DPH director Dr. Karyl Rattay said in a statement.
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our feed
Contact us through email
Be the first to comment on this article!