1st shot fired in flu battle

County health officials urge citizens to get vaccine

Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

By NANCY BROMLEY McCONATY

Staff writer

Click here to enlarge this photo

Staff photo by EMILY BARNES

Registered nurse Laura Kniaz, right, prepares to give the H1N1 flu mist vaccine to Tanyau Warden during a clinic for health care workers Tuesday in White Plains.

E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Dianna Abney was the first health care provider to roll up her sleeve Tuesday afternoon for the H1N1 flu shot at a clinic held at the Charles County Department of Health in White Plains.

Abney said she has two very good reasons for volunteering for the injection — she has asthma and she is a Waldorf pediatrician who is treating children who have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus.

"I believe in the flu vaccine," she said after receiving the shot. "I'm treating tons of children who have had the flu, all of whom are presumed to have H1N1 because the majority of the influenza circulating now is H1N1. As a medical provider I need to be protected so I don't make my patients ill."

Abney said people should not be afraid to get the swine flu vaccine, which is available in nasal mist and shot form.

"It truly is just a strain change," she said. "It's safe. It's made just like the seasonal flu vaccine."

But Carolina Schwartz, who is a health department employee, was still trying to make a final decision about whether to get the flu vaccine as she stood in line for the shot.

"I hear people talking about the side effects of the vaccine," she said. "It frightens me."

Bobby Kans, the owner and president of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy in White Plains and La Plata, said he didn't have any qualms about getting the vaccine.

"I'm trying to be part of the solution," he said as he waited in the foyer of the health department for his shot. "I'm trying to help disrupt this pandemic, and I've got a 4-month-old at home so it's important to me on a personal level."

Kans said he doesn't want to catch the virus and end up spreading it to his patients.

"As a health care provider in the county I want to set a good example," he said, adding he is encouraging his 29 employees to also get the vaccine. "I'm not worried about any side effects from the vaccine. Everybody from the Centers for Disease Control to the surgeon general has made me feel at ease about getting the vaccine."

Kim Bateman, assistant center manager at Radiology Imaging Associates in Waldorf, said it is her responsibility to do everything she can to protect the patients who are under her care.

"I'm a health care provider; I can't be sick," she said.

Kathy Moore is a nurse at the Charles County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in La Plata. Making the decision to get the swine flu vaccine was a no-brainer, she said.

"I don't want to catch it or spread it," she said. "I hope the vaccine is safe but I think that it's better to get it than not get it."

The health department received 1,000 doses of the nasal mist form of the vaccine and vials with enough vaccine for about 200 injections, said William Leebel, spokesman. The health department is focusing attention on people in the high-priority groups at present, including pregnant women, health care workers, people with chronic health problems and individuals who care for children younger than 6 months, he said.

The next priority group is people 6 months to 24 years and then those 25 to 64, Leebel said.

During Tuesday's clinic 166 doses of the vaccine were given to health care workers, Leebel said.

The health department has set up six H1N1 vaccine clinics for the general public in November, Leebel said.

"We hope to have the priority groups done by Nov. 7 so the clinics will be open to the public depending on the vaccine supply," he said. "We should receive vaccine weekly but until it's here we can't be exactly sure."

The seasonal flu vaccine is in short supply, Leebel said. The health department ordered 7,000 doses but received 3,000.

Dr. Chinnadurai Devadason, health officer for Charles and Queen Anne counties, said 31 physicians in the county have ordered doses of the H1N1 vaccine.

Devadason urged everyone, particularly those in the high-risk categories, to get the vaccine. Concerns about the safety of the vaccine are, for the most part, unfounded, he said.

"As far as we know the vaccine is safe and effective," he said. "No serious reactions to the vaccine have been reported. It gives protection to vulnerable groups. I strongly recommend that people get the vaccine."

Children are particularly at risk to catch the virus, Devadason said.

"We know from experience that this particular virus attacks younger rather than older people," he said. "It's a new virus so there's no immunity to the virus in younger people. The best option is to get the vaccine."

Charles County Public Schools spokeswoman Katie O'Malley-Simpson said a lot of what schools are seeing is H1N1. School officials announced they will not be sending letters home concerning confirmed cases of H1N1, but letters have been sent to parents regarding schools that have seen high numbers of absentees and reminders to keep home children who have flu-like symptoms.

"If you are sick, don't come to school," she said.

O'Malley-Simpson said health-related information is available on the school system Web site including a video with Phylis Reinard, supervisor of school health, explaining the latest information on seasonal flu and H1N1.

"We are seeing some spikes in our absenteeism. We are sending a fair amount of students home with flu-like illness and the assumption is that it is H1N1 only because we don't usually see seasonal flu in this area until later in the winter months," Reinard explained in the video.

Reinard said the health department stopped the release of seasonal flu mist in the schools because if the students got seasonal flu mist they have to wait 30 days before getting the H1N1 vaccine mist.

The county has worked closely with the Centers for Disease Control and other health care agencies to put a plan in place in the event a severe outbreak of the virus causes schools and businesses to close, Devadason said.

Staff writer Gretchen Phillips contributed to this report.

nmcconaty@somdnews.com.

See related stories