Monday, Dec. 8, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.
With more than 200 people waiting in line for flu shots this morning at the Clark County Health District on Shadow Lane, health officials estimated that they will be out of the vaccine by Tuesday.
Health officials said the clinic opened at 8 a.m. today with fewer than 1,000 doses of its original 25,000 doses remaining to inoculate Southern Nevadans against strains of flu viruses. The flu season is December through March.
Bonnie Sorenson, a registered nurse in charge of immunizations at the Health District said the last-minute rush on flu vaccines -- especially by parents wanting to protect their children from the disease -- plays into the district's "herd-immunization" philosophy.
"If we can get 90 percent of the county immunized, it will protect not only that large segment but also the 10 percent that does not get immunized," Sorenson said.
"Nothing is 100 percent. The immune systems of the very young are immature and the immune systems of the old have deteriorated. But if we can get most of the herd immunized it will provide protection for the majority."
Major pharmaceutical companies issued 80 million doses nationwide this year -- the same number they produced last year when they wound up throwing away 13 million unused doses, Sorenson said. Because it takes four months to produce the vaccine, flu season would be over by the time new doses could be made. In addition to the Clark County supplies, private entities also have doses, but Health District officials do not know how much is remaining.
Five Sav-on pharmacies in the valley -- including Lamb and Bonanza, Spring Mountain and Rainbow, Sahara and Valley View, Cheyenne and Soaring Gulf, and Boulder City -- were distributing flu shots on an appointment basis, an official with the Sav-on district office said.
All area Sav-ons this morning also had plenty of FluMist, the nasal vaccine mist that should only be used by healthy individuals ages 5 to 49.
"There has been so much about it in the news that everybody wants one," Julie Salvadore, a pharmacy technician at the Sav-on on Sahara Avenue at Valley View Boulevard, said. "Everybody's worried."
But most people prefer the flu shots, said Therine Do, pharmacy technician at the Sav-on on Cheyenne Avenue near Rampart Boulevard.
"When they hear that (FluMist) is $60 plus it's a live virus, they go um, no," Do said. "The shot is just a tiny prick and its over."
The flu shot uses a dead version of the virus and runs $20.
Do said her pharmacy had about 30 shots left and was supposed to get more vaccine today. Salvadore's pharmacy had less than a dozen shots this morning.
"It's on a first-come, first-served basis," Do said.
Officials with CVS Pharmacy, Rite-Aid and Walgreens said their flu-shot programs ended in November. None of these stores ever offered the FluMist.
The Health District on Friday, facing a potential shortage, scrambled for additional doses. Today, the district says it expects to receive 800 doses on Tuesday from the Vaccine for Children program, but those doses will be limited just to children.
In past years, when the district was short on doses, it limited doses to the so-called "at risk" public, which includes the elderly, people with respiratory problems and diabetes, among other ailments. The district has no such restrictions this year because it initially figured there would be enough vaccine to go around.
To maintain control of dwindling inventories, the Health District has pooled all of its remaining doses from its five satelite clinic into the main clinic on Shadow Lane near Charleston Boulevard.
Patients on Medicare pay nothing for the shot, and neither do people with health insurance through Pacific Care, Senior Dimensions and several children's programs. Those with other insurance or no insurance pay $20.
Clark County is not alone in its scramble for more vaccinations. Health officials in a number of states, including Texas and Colorado, urged over the weekend that doctors prioritize remaining vaccine supplies to ensure that health care workers and people at highest risk of serious illness or death are immunized.
Flu kills 36,000 Americans a year on average and hospitalizes 114,000. But this year is expected to be worse, in part because the vaccine is not a perfect match for the strains now in circulation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says flu is widespread in 13 states. Only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., report no cases.
CDC officials said Friday that all 83 million doses of vaccine made for this flu season have been distributed. But because more people than usual were vaccinated in October and November, doctors in some regions may run out.
"It's unprecedented," Len Lavenda, a spokesperson with flu vaccine-maker Aventis, said Saturday. The company produces more than half the nation's vaccine supply. "We cannot remember running out. In most years, we destroy millions of doses of vaccine" because they go unused.
Lavenda said the company shipped 43 million doses this year, 11 million more than had been pre-ordered. The vaccine takes at least four months to produce. It is made fresh each year, tailored to protect against flu strains in current circulation. Typically, no more than 75 million people nationwide receive flu shots.
The Health District did not have exact numbers on just how many people in Southern Nevada have or have had the flu this season. However, between Nov. 16 and the 29th, the latest dates for which data is available, 4.6 percent of people who went to selected area hospitals had influenza-like symptoms, which is significantly above the national baseline of 2.5 percent.
Sorenson said people are not specifically tested for the flu by their doctors because whether they have the flu or flu-like symptoms, the treatment and period of illness is the same -- generally three to five days of misery, and about two weeks before you regain total health.
People lining up at the district this morning were for the most part cheerful and resigned to the fact that an hour or more wait in line was a far better alternative than getting the flu.
Melissa Genore, owner of the Tiny Tots Childcare in Southern Highlands, in Southwest Clark County, said she had recommended to all of the parents of her students to get them and their children immunized. She finally found the time today to get shots for herself and 2-year-old son Maxwell.
"Initially, we were told that young children who are in relatively good health did not need to get a flu shot, but because the flu is so bad this season that changed," Genore said.
Clark County Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said the push to get children immunized this year is a change from previous years.
Toni Delisse, of Blue Diamond, got her flu shot at the Bellagio recently, but decided to keep her husband and son company as they waited in line today.
"I just didn't want to get one," James Delisse IV, a self-employed individual, said, indicating he was there are his wife's insistence.
James Delisse V, said not many kids at his school Lawrence and Heidi Canarelli, Middle School were sniffling or sneezing or showing other signs of the flu.
"It's all about preventative maintenance," Toni Delisse said. "It seems like it's worth the wait in line when you compare it to the alternative of getting real sick."
Tristen Daly, 9, of Howard Heckethorn Elementary, said several of her friends got their shots the other day so she asked her mother to take her for her's today. Carolyn Daly said it was her first flu shot.
Marsha Kelly, who moved to Las Vegas from Chicago in August, said she too had never before had a flu shot.
"I got freaked out by all the news casts that say this is going to be a very bad year for flu," Kelly said.
Dolores Acosta said she got her flu shot early but decided to bring her three children in today, also after watching news accounts about how bad the flu season was and also because of the potential that medical officials would run out of the vaccine.
The flu vaccine is designed to deal with the three major strains, but not a fourth one that recently popped up. But Sorenson she said that does not mean that people will get the fourth strain because this year's vaccine will "afford some protection" from the new strain."
For those who fail to get the immunization, Sorenson recommended they take precautions to do things that will help them stay healthy, such as eat properly, get enough sleep, exercise and avoid large crowds. Other preventative measures include covering your mouth when you cough and sufficient hand washing.
If you get flu-like symptoms, drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. Sorenson said parents should closely monitor very young children to make sure they are not showing early signs of the flu, specifically not drinking and not urinating, as those are signs of dehydration.
Sizemore also said people who get flu symptoms should use urgent care facilities or see their family doctorto avoid the possibility of flooding emergency rooms with flu cases.
USA Today and Sun reporters Jean Reid Norman and Christina Littlefield contributed to this story.
archive
