Health District offers injectable flu vaccine in Clark County

By Mary Manning

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 | 12:09 p.m.

The Southern Nevada Health District has received its first delivery of injectable H1N1 influenza vaccine, which will be offered to priority groups beginning Saturday.

The health district's main public health center will have both the inhaled FluMist as well as the injections from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at 625 Shadow Lane, north of West Charleston Boulevard and west of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The H1N1 influenza vaccine is free of charge.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that priority groups eligible to receive the vaccine at this time include:

-- Pregnant women.

-- People who live with, or care for, children younger than 6 months of age.

-- Health care and emergency medical services workers with direct patient contact.

-- Children 6 months old through 4 years of age.

-- Children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions.

The health district will continue to offer both types of flu vaccine from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Shadow Lane health center. The FluMist is made with a weak live virus, while injections contain flu strain that has been killed.

Later this fall, the health district will schedule clinics for priority group members at satellite sites as the vaccine becomes available. Orders are placed by the Nevada State Health Division and deliveries are expected on a weekly basis through January.

This is the second delivery of the vaccine to the Southern Nevada Health District. To date, the health district has received 48,000 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine with the initial doses an inhaled mist.

This week, about 11,000 doses were sent directly to hospitals and health care providers who earlier registered with the state Health Division and are enrolled in the federal program to administer vaccine. To date, the health district has given 1,272 doses.

The federal recommendation is for inhaled vaccine to healthy people between the ages of 2 years and 49 years. It is also recommended for health care workers and emergency medical technicians.

To date, the health district has registered more than 600 laboratory-confirmed H1N1 cases in Clark County. However, confirmed cases are a small part of the residents who have been infected with H1N1 virus, as most people do not seek medical attention. To date, 11 deaths have been reported in Clark County.

Health officials also urge people to receive a vaccine for seasonal flu, which extends from November through May in Southern Nevada.