H1N1 vaccine hard to find for children

Families have been facing a frustrating ordeal to find swine flu shots for young children, even as the vaccine has become more prevalent in the Pikes Peak region.

Health officials acknowledge there are not as many places for this top priority group to be vaccinated as they would like, but more chances are coming in the next few weeks as a new round of clinics was announced Tuesday.

Local health departments decide how the H1N1 vaccine is distributed in any given community. Some places have relied heavily on public clinics, while others, including El Paso County, have turned mostly to private health care providers to get the vaccine out.

The thinking is that using private providers is the fastest and most efficient way to distribute the vaccine, especially when supplies are limited. Roughly 84,000 doses have gone to pharmacies, doctors’ offices, schools and other health care providers, while about 6,000 have been delivered through the health department’s public clinics.

But when it comes to children ages 9 and younger, that strategy has been problematic. Just nine of 46 pediatric offices around town, or about 20 percent, have agreed to distribute the vaccine, said Susan Wheelan, spokeswoman for the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment. The rest have declined, citing concerns about staffing and security.

And most, if not all, pharmacies are not authorized to vaccinate young children.

So the most viable option for parents of infants, toddlers and grade-schoolers is to go to the public clinics to get the shots. If the times or locations are inconvenient, the kids are going without. Complicating matters is that younger children need a second shot about a month after getting their first one.

Kandi Buckland, El Paso County’s public health director, said the health department is receiving calls from such parents, and is working on ways to make the vaccine more available to children.

This week, Peak Vista began distributing vaccine for children in rural parts of El Paso County.

On Tuesday, the health department sent out faxes to pediatric offices urging them to reconsider offering the vaccine if they are not already. At least a few providers have done so, she said.

Buckland said the health department is negotiating with a private health care provider to begin offering four H1N1 vaccine clinics each week beginning in mid-December.

Children are one of the top priority groups to receive a shot, because they are among the most affected by the H1N1 virus. The health department said about half of the recipients of the vaccine at its public clinics have been children under age 18; it did not have a breakdown for how many were younger than 9.

While some families are struggling to find a first dose for their children, in a few weeks many others will join them in search of a second, because young children require a booster after about a month.

For more information on clinics, call the Pikes Peak United Way’s 2-1-1 service, or go to www.immunizecolorado.com.

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Call Newsome at 636-0198. Visit the Pikes Peak Health blog at www.pikespeakhealth.freedomblogging.com and the Gazette’s Health page at www.gazette.com/health.