County gets more flu doses as fed agency monitors problem

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

The Clark County Health District opened today with about 500 flu shot doses despite a run on flu shots Monday, where about 1,000 people stood in lines that wrapped around the lobby of the Shadow Lane facility to get the vaccine.

"We were able to get additional doses throughout the day," Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said this morning. "We opened with another line around the rotunda this morning, about 100 people. We'll keep trying throughout the day to get more doses."

Sizemore did not have immediately available a list of places from which the district obtained the additional doses, noting that immunizations officials were reluctant to release their sources.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation's health agency, said it plans to closely watch flu complications among children, who have swamped hospitals in some states with severe illnesses.

Flu shots were still available at some Sav-on pharmacies, which were distributing flu shots on an appointment basis, some specialized clinics and some private doctors' offices. Several other pharmacy chains had flu shot clinics that concluded in November.

One source that came through partially for the health district was the Vaccine for Children program, which had hoped to supply the agency with 800 doses, but could only come up with 50 doses Monday that will be limited just to children, Sizemore said.

Many of those who went to the health district Monday were there specifically to inoculate their children amid reports that influenza nationwide has been especially hard on the very young early in the flu season.

Flu and its complications are the sixth leading cause of death nationally among children age 4 and younger, according to the CDC. Anecdotally, this flu season seems to be worse for children. But because the CDC doesn't keep track of flu deaths, it's unclear how much worse.

Other flu shots are available throughout the valley this week, but only to selected groups.

For example, Department of Veterans Affairs clinics had 2,000 shots available for qualifying veterans as of late Monday morning, Associate Director John Bright said through a spokesman. It was not immediately known how many of those doses remained this morning.

Also, 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, the Southwest Medical clinic at 2704 S. Tenaya Way will be giving its last in a series of scheduled free flu shots to those who have Senior Dimensions health insurance cards.

The Clark County Health District initially had 25,000 doses of the flu vaccine -- which last December was enough to get the agency through the entire flu season that runs through March. On Monday it opened for business at 8 a.m. Monday with fewer than 1,000 doses remaining and long lines of people seeking shots.

The shots cost $20 for those who do not have Medicare or insurance that covers the immunization.

To maintain control of dwindling inventories, the Health District on Monday pooled all of its remaining doses from its five satellite clinics into the main clinic at 625 Shadow Lane near Charleston Boulevard.

Major pharmaceutical companies issued 83 million doses nationwide this year -- the same number produced last year when they wound up throwing away 13 million unused doses.

The CDC says flu this year is widespread in 13 states.

Local health district statistics show that between Nov. 16 and 29, 4.6 percent of patients at selected area doctors offices had influenza-like symptoms, which is significantly above the national baseline of 2.5 percent.

A new concern that has arisen this flu season is a common drug-resistant staph infection that is complicating efforts to treat children with the flu, an official with the CDC said Monday.

Dr. Tim Uyeki, epidemiologist with the influenza branch of CDC, said that some children have died from the staph infections, a phenomenon the CDC has not seen before.

From Texas to California children's hospitals have been swamped with sick children, many of them desperately ill. Doctors say some children are coming into hospitals with so much damage they are put on heart-lung bypass machines just to stay alive.

Pregnant women -- urged to get the flu shot if they are in their second or third trimester -- have also become a concern this year.

The CDC is looking closely at some cases in which pregnant women have displayed high pulse rates that could be a symptom of a dangerous, and potentially fatal, inflammation of the heart.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.