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ROCKFORD — The large majority of current influenza cases in Winnebago County are from the H1N1 swine flu virus and, as health officials expected, a good deal of it is in schools.
“It’s all over the board,” Winnebago County Health Department Administrator Mike Bacon said. “Some schools are fairly high, and most probably have some influenza. It reinforces the message of following all of the appropriate procedures.”
Bacon said the Health Department is able to track the number of flu cases by individual schools, but he doesn’t want to identify which schools may have the higher numbers. “It becomes a slippery slope once we start talking about which schools might be higher than others, and that really doesn’t make any difference whatsoever in terms of what all of us, including the schools, need to be doing.
“It’s not at all helpful in our response, and it may in fact allow some people to think they can soft-pedal the precautions on the idea that it’s not in my school so much.”
Shipment received
The department received a shipment last week of H1N1 vaccine that included 500 doses of injectable vaccine and 1,500 doses of the nasal spray, known as the live attenuated influenza vaccine, or LAIV.
Those doses are being used to vaccinate target groups considered most at risk of contracting the H1N1 virus, including pregnant women and health care workers and emergency services personnel.
At a shot clinic today where Rockford Fire Department personnel were among those receiving the vaccine, fire Chief Derek Bergsten said the vaccinations were timely because his department has seen an increase in flu cases in the past four to five weeks.
“Every time that we are called out for emergency services,” Bergsten said, “we always use universal precautions, which is eye protection, gloves on our hands and possibly masks on our nose and mouth if the situation warrants it, but I think it’s imperative in our partnership with the Health Department that we keep our most prized resources, which is our personnel, healthy so we can keep responding to emergency calls.”
Bergsten said the vaccinations are being offered to 270 Fire Department personnel. “It’s voluntary,” he said. “We’re not mandating that they get it, but we are highly recommending that they do.”
‘Take 3’ message
Bacon said today’s clinic reinforced the department’s “Take 3” message to get the seasonal vaccine, get the H1N1 vaccine and continue to practice the routines of washing hands frequently, covering coughs and sneezes, and containing the virus by staying home when sick.
“We’ve been hammering on that message,” Bacon said, “and we just can’t overemphasize it.”
Bacon also said the department this week is starting to send vaccine information sheets and consent forms to parents of schoolchildren and children in day care centers so it can begin vaccinations in schools and day cares next.
“We think, with our staff,” he said, “that we can get to all 193 day cares and schools within our purview in roughly three to four weeks’ time. Those less than 10 years of age are going to need two doses four weeks apart, and so we’ll go back to those day cares and elementary schools a second time around. We hope that can be completed within about seven weeks’ time if we get an adequate supply of vaccine.”
Vaccine shortage
The department temporarily halted its seasonal flu vaccine clinics last Friday because of a shortage of vaccine and a higher-than-expected demand. Bacon said the department still hopes to see a resumption of seasonal vaccine deliveries in mid-November and has been told in conference calls this week to expect to receive its H1N1 vaccine in weekly increments.
He said about 65,000 to 70,000 total doses of H1N1 vaccine are expected by the end of November “and, in December, it should pick up a little and, eventually, there should be enough vaccine for everyone who wants it to be vaccinated.”
“We are going to get through this together, and I think we are ahead of most communities at this point, but the challenge is going to be getting vaccine here for both the seasonal and the H1N1 influenza.”
Staff writer Mike DeDoncker can be reached at mdedoncker@rrstar.com or 815-987-1382.
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