H1N1 vaccine received, clinics set

The shipment included 500 doses of the H1N1 injectable vaccine and 1,500 doses of the nasal spray (Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine -LAIV).

Clinics have been scheduled for health care workers and first responders starting on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The Winnebago County Health Department also will offer the vaccine to pregnant women and infants who are current WIC and Family Case Management Service clients during scheduled appointments starting this week.


Initially, the vaccine will come in small quantities, weekly. As the vaccine arrives, the health department will begin the planned vaccination program for children in Winnebago County schools and daycares. Plans for community vaccination clinics for others who are at risk of complications from the flu will be conducted at a later date.

“Again we ask members of our community who want to receive this vaccine to be patient as this program begins. There will be enough vaccine for all who wish to receive it, but initially we must protect those who are at greatest risk,” said Mike Bacon, Winnebago County Public Health Director.

The nasal spray (LAIV) vaccine is for healthy, non-pregnant people between the ages of 2 and 49, including healthy, non-pregnant health care workers who do not work with severely immunocompromised persons.

The Rock County Health Department has scheduled an H1N1 vaccination clinic in Janesville from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Rock County Job Center, 1900 Center Ave.

The Rock County Health Department has scheduled several school H1N1 clinics in the area. They include:

3 - 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at Clinton High School.

3 - 7 p.m. Oct. 28 at Powers School in the Beloit-Turner School District.

3 - 7 p.m. Nov. 3 at Converse Elementary School in Beloit.

3 - 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at Aldrich Middle School in Beloit.

3 - 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at Parkview Junior/Senior High School, Orfordville.

After Nov. 1, those who meet one of the risk factors for H1N1 flu can schedule an appointment to get the shot by calling the Rock County Health Department at 608-757-5440.

Those in the risk factor group include: pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months, healthcare and emergency medical personnel, people ages 6 months to 24 years and people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma and kidney disease.

The Winnegabo County Health Department will offer the H1N1 vaccinations free of charge. For more information on H1N1, visit the Winnebago County Health Department’s Web site at www.wchd.org., or call the Health Department at 815-720-4000.

Illness, death and the impact of the H1N1 pandemic will differ dramatically from country to country

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said Tuesday that this disparity is because the pandemic is spreading in a world where differences in health status, in access to care, in quality of that care, and in resources for health, are greater than at any time in recent history.

The Swine Flu pandemic will be a public health turning point around the globe because the consequences are likely to be so uneven and so unfairly felt depending on where you are.

Speaking to the WHO’s Regional Committee of the Americas, the director predicted that the overwhelming majority of cases will experience mild illness with spontaneous recovery.

However, she cautions that as the illness increases, this somewhat rosy picture will differ because of extremes in the clinical spectrum of disease, in public opinion, in access to vaccines, in ability to respond and in impact.

“The world will see proof of the validity of arguments public health has been making for decades,” she said and added that “Weak health systems cost lives. Equity matters in health in a life-and-death way.”

She calls H1N1 a “virus of extremes” that doesn’t “seem to have a middle ground.”

At one extreme are the mild cases, she said. At the other extreme is a small subset of patients who rapidly fall seriously ill, sometimes going from normal respiratory function to multi-organ failure within 24 hours

When exactly the same virus causes manageable disruption in wealthy countries, but devastation for health care elsewhere, we will see what inequity really means in a measurable way, the physician explained.