Health District running out of H1N1 shot vaccine; mist available

By Mary Manning

Published Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 | 12:20 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 | 2:16 p.m.

The Southern Nevada Health District said today that injectable H1N1 influenza vaccine will not be available beginning Friday, and only the nasal spray form will be given.

In an effort to offer the FluMist -- a nasal spray that contains live strains of the H1N1 virus -- to the most vulnerable groups, the health district is launching a FluMist Express line in front of its main center, at 625 Shadow Lane.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday the FluMist spray will be given to healthcare workers and emergency medical technicians with patient contacts, parents and caregivers with no underlying medical conditions who provide care to infants 6 months or younger, and those between 2 years and 49 years old.

In addition, a clinic scheduled for Saturday has been postponed. The 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine is free of charge.

The health district said it expects more injectable vaccine to arrive in a week to 10 days. There is plenty of FluMist available for people in priority groups.

"We have found that many people who meet the guidelines for the inhaled vaccine have opted not to receive it. Because of this, we have used many more doses of the injectable vaccine that could have been given to pregnant women and children with underlying medical conditions who cannot use the inhaled mist," said Dr. Lawrence Sands, chief health officer.

There is an exception to the groups eligible for the FluMist spray vaccine, said Stephanie Bethel, a spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Health District. Pregnant women cannot receive the FluMist because of its live virus component.

As of Saturday, the health district had received 49,000 doses of H1N1 influenza vaccine. By Monday the health district had administered 7,184 doses of the vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that shipments of the vaccine had slowed and that more vaccine injections would be available toward the end of October.

So far, the H1N1 flu virus has been reported nationwide, with 836 deaths attributed to the disease, also known as swine flu, although the disease did not originate in hogs, health officials said. The H1N1 flu is striking younger people, especially those under 24 years of age. A total of 86 children have died from this particular flu.

The H1N1 flu is the predominant flu strain in the nation, since seasonal flu is not expected to appear until November.