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Local News

Thursday, November 05, 2009

About 800 vaccinated at Sunday clinic
By LINSEY MAUGHAN

STAFF WRITER

More than 800 people were vaccinated for the H1N1 flu on Sunday at the most recent Findlay City and Hancock County health departments' clinic held at Liberty-Benton High School, according to Barb Wilhelm, deputy health commissioner for the City Health Department.

A vaccination clinic also was held last Friday for certain health care workers.

Sunday's mass clinic, which began at noon and ran until all vaccines had been exhausted, was for high priority groups.

Among those eligible for vaccination, as listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were pregnant women; people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months old; direct health care workers and emergency medical service personnel; people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years; and people between the ages of 25 and 64 with certain chronic medical conditions that put them at higher risk of flu-related complications.

Frances Meeks, director of nursing with the Hancock County Health Department, said that of the eligible groups in attendance, children were a large majority.

"We saw a lot of children last Sunday. I believe more children than in our first clinic at the high school," Meeks said. "A lot of families with a lot of children."

Meeks said that individuals in priority groups between the ages of 2 and 49 who were not immunocompromised and who were otherwise healthy received the Flumist nasal vaccine. All others, including pregnant women, received the intramuscular injection.

The health departments have planned in advance for a pandemic, and are now putting that planning to effective use, Meeks said.

"The government was concerned about possible smallpox (a few years ago), and from there we just went for planning for some kind of pandemic event, whether it was the avian flu or (something else)," she said. "It turned out it was the H1N1."

Contributing to the preparation for such an event was a mass immunization drill held in April 2007 at Liberty-Benton High School.

Meeks said Sunday's mass clinic for priority groups went "very well," largely in part to the many volunteers who helped out.

"We've been planning for this for a number of years now, and were pleasantly surprised that everything we planned for seemed to work," she said. "For the most part, we've had very positive feedback from the public."

The health departments expect to receive vaccine shipments each week, and will continue to hold clinics as they receive more vaccines. The next scheduled clinics are set to take place Friday and Sunday.

Friday's clinic will be for pregnant women only, and preservative-free injections will be administered. Meeks said that the preservative-free vaccines, which were just received this week, have been reserved for pregnant women and those that are breast feeding, but there is no harm in a pregnant woman receiving a standard H1N1 vaccine.

The clinic will take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the health departments' office on Tiffin Avenue.

Sunday's clinic will be another mass clinic for the same priority groups as last Sunday, and will take place from noon to 4 p.m., or until all vaccines are exhausted, at Findlay High School.

Vaccinations at both clinics have been provided through the Ohio Department of Health, and are free.

"We need and we want to get everybody vaccinated, and we don't want the cost to be a deterrent in any way," Meeks said.

Meeks was unsure as to when H1N1 vaccines would be made available to those who do not fall within priority groups.

"We're just waiting on guidance from the federal government as to when they're going to lift those restrictions," she said.

Maughan: 419-427-8417,

Send an e-mail to Linsey Maughan


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