By Jeff Hansel
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
Minnesotans who aren't health providers continue to wait for the H1N1 vaccine, but the story is different to the south.
| | |
| H1N1 vaccine
So far: Almost all 171,300 doses of the H1N1 influenza vaccine sent to Minnesota as of Friday have gone to health providers.
When you can get it: Large amounts of vaccine for the general public won't be available until the end of November.
What it means: Some states, such as Iowa, have provided some of the initial vaccines to the general public, but Minnesota is vaccinating health-care workers first so they don't make patients sick. | |
| | |
Health providers in some Iowa counties already have held mass H1N1 vaccination clinics for the general public.
As of Friday, Iowa had received 124,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine. Minnesota had received 171,300 doses.
The difference is that some Iowa counties have tried to get at least some of the vaccines to the general public. In Minnesota, on the other hand, almost all doses so far have gone to health providers so they'll be able to provide care to the sick and so they won't spread the illness to at-risk patients themselves.
Polk County, Iowa, where Des Moines is located, has held at least three mass-vaccination clinics.
"The way we've done it in Iowa is that each county is able to come up with their own target population," Iowa Department of Health spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm said.
Each of Iowa's 99 counties has prioritized differently. Some, like Minnesota, have focused on getting health providers vaccinated first so they'll be able to treat the ill and avoid spreading pandemic flu to at-risk patients. Others, such as Polk County, have tried as much as possible to distribute vaccine to small portions of all target populations, with a portion to health providers and the rest to the public.
Meanwhile, many health providers in Olmsted County are getting the vaccine this week, with several Olmsted Medical Center providers receiving it Wednesday.
Asthma and allergy specialist Dr. David Lowe at Olmsted Medical Center received his inhaled H1N1 vaccination Wednesday.
Lowe said he wanted to get vaccinated so he doesn't make his at-risk patients sick. Currently, most H1N1 vaccine is in the inhaled form, which people with ashthma can't get. People with underlying health conditions such as asthma must wait until the injectable vaccine is available.
But the vaccine supply remains sparse.
"What we've been told is that it's probably going to be toward the end of November before any of us, or anybody else, are going to have large amounts of vaccine available to vaccinate anybody," said Buddy Ferguson, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health.
Both Ferguson and Carver-Kimm said that states and regions will prioritize vaccine differently depending on local needs.
Reporter Jeff Hansel covers health for the Post-Bulletin. Read his blog, Pulse on Health, at Postbulletin.com.
E-mail Story
Print Story
Browse photo reprints
