Vaccine to protect against the H1N1 flu began to trickle into Sangamon County Wednesday, as the county Department of Public Health received a shipment of 500 doses of the nasal-spray version.
All 500 doses were forwarded to Springfield Clinic and Memorial Health System, the parent organization of Memorial Medical Center, to vaccinate health-care workers and "priority populations" established by federal health officials, according to Sangamon County health director Jim Stone.
"We feel it was best utilized by private providers," Stone said.
Memorial plans to administer its 247 doses to Memorial Medical Center employees and patients of the health system's primary care doctors in Sangamon County, spokesman Michael Leathers said.
A Springfield Clinic spokesman couldn't be reached.
St. John's Hospital didn't want the mist version of the vaccine, Stone said.
FluMist contains a live but weakened form of the H1N1 virus. It can be given only to people ages 2 through 49 who are not pregnant, are generally healthy and don't have any underlying medical conditions.
The injectable form of H1N1 vaccine doesn't contain any live viruses and can be given to a broader group of people.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the following groups should have top priority to receive H1N1 vaccine:
*Pregnant women.
*Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age.
*Health-care and emergency medical services personnel.
*All people from 6 months through 24 years of age.
*People age 25 to 64 who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza.
The county health department has ordered a total of 35,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine. When the injectable vaccine arrives, the county will distribute the vaccine for free to priority patients.
Meanwhile, the health department ran out of vaccine for the seasonal form of flu Wednesday at its site at 2501 N. Dirksen Parkway. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, only 20 doses remained at the department's site at 1415 E. Jefferson St.
Most other local health-care providers also are out of seasonal vaccine or running low, but Stone said the department expects more seasonal flu vaccine to arrive in early November.
The department has given out about 13,000 doses of seasonal vaccine and is waiting for 7,000 more doses, he said.
Because of the dwindling supply, Stone said the health department has postponed flu-shot clinics for 5,000 state workers at the state departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Revenue, Corrections, Natural Resources and Healthcare and Family Services, as well as at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Stratton Office Building, State Capitol and State Board of Education.
Those clinics will be rescheduled once more seasonal vaccine arrives, Stone said. The health department already has vaccinated 4,000 state workers for seasonal flu this year, he said.
Dean Olsen can be reached at 788-1543.
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Photo caption: Daniela Diaz, 11, reacts as she receives the nasal mist version of the H1N1 Influenza vaccine, Monday, Oct. 19, 2009, at Broadmoor Elementary School in Miami. The nasal-spray version of the vaccine arrived in Springfield Wednesday. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
