Flu-shot drive likely in October

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.

The Clark County Health District's large-scale flu vaccination effort will likely launch next month, despite an August delay that threatened the campaign, a spokesman for the agency said this morning.

The vaccine, which was delayed amid reports its supply may be tainted, is scheduled to arrive the week of Oct. 4, in time for the launch of local flu clinics. A large-scale drill is scheduled for Oct. 15 and the vaccine will be available to the general public Oct. 18, Dave Tonelli, a spokesman for the health district, said.

"As long as they meet that date, it shouldn't impact what we're doing," he said. "Everything is looking good at this point."

The health district has been in weekly contact with the supplier, Chiron Corp., the Emeryville, Calif., company that announced Aug. 26 that a portion of its supply was contaminated in a factory in Liverpool, England, Tonelli said.

Public health experts nationwide are bracing for a possible pandemic, which occurs when a strain of influenza mutates and infects a large number of people who have not yet developed a resistance to it. A pandemic can kill up to 200,000 people, they said.

Clark County health officials ordered 35,000 doses of the vaccine to combat the possible spike in flu cases, 10,000 more than last year, Tonelli said.

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