Swine-flu vaccine still weeks away for El Paso County residents

It may be “a number of weeks” before El Paso County can begin vaccinating the public against H1N1, El Paso County’s public health director said Monday.

“People are worried. People are concerned. People are requesting vaccine,” Kandi Buckland, told the Board of Health of the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment. “The reality is we just don’t have any to give right now.”

The first scheduled flu clinics were supposed to start next week, but those were canceled after the state and county learned they would receive just a fraction of the expected doses for swine flu for now. Clinics scheduled for November have also been put on hold, Buckland said.

Health officials have said there will eventually be ample vaccine. But that’s done little to quell the anxiety for many, especially those in high-risk groups.

The county has received 6,100 doses of the FluMist vaccine, which went hospitals and other health care providers to cover their staff members. Additional doses in larger shipments were expected to follow, but that has not occurred.
Buckland told the Board of Health that no new vaccine arrived last week, and exactly how much will come from this point on is uncertain.

Buckland also announced that El Paso County has received a grant for $8,985 to monitor the flu at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and in Falcon School District 49. The two school systems volunteered for the surveillance program.
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