Senior citizens and others who have sought but been denied H1N1 flu shots could find relief if Illinois health officials follow a growing trend of states and communities outside Illinois that are giving the free vaccine to all comers.
“We are looking very closely at that,” Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, said Friday. “We could make a decision in the next week or two.”
By most accounts, local health departments in Illinois and physicians continue to abide by Public Health’s request that H1N1 vaccine go only to the groups facing the overall highest risk of medical complications from the novel flu virus.
But as H1N1 vaccine becomes more available, other states are relaxing distribution policies.
“We feel like we’ve hit a good proportion of the priority groups out there,” said Ann Wright, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Health, which will launch mass vaccination clinics for the general public today.
Local health officials around Illinois are hearing complaints from people 65 and older, who aren’t part of any of the federally recommended priority groups, even if they have chronic health conditions. The only seniors obviously eligible would be health-care workers or those who are caring for infants.
Seniors citizens, the group typically hardest hit by seasonal influenza — but not by H1N1 — have been trained by their doctors to get their flu shots every year. Those seniors have been calling the Sangamon County Department of Public Health by the thousands requesting appointments for H1N1 shots, and department officials have had to turn them down.
Many have become quite upset, said Gail O’Neill, the department’s assistant director.
“It’s gotten pretty ugly,” she said. “I’ve taken some calls myself. They take it really personally. They ask us if we want them to die.”
H1N1 flu, which first emerged in the United States in the spring, so far has resulted in more than 6,000 deaths across the country, with about 12 percent of those deaths involving people 65 and older.
Among the estimated 63,000 to 153,000 patients who have been hospitalized with H1N1, about 9 percent were seniors, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Illinois, seniors accounted for 11 of the 67 H1N1-related deaths, or 16 percent. Among the 2,187 H1N1-related hospitalizations, there were 139 seniors, or 6 percent of the total.
It’s possible that seniors developed some immunity to H1N1 by being exposed to a virus in the 1950s, but CDC officials don’t yet know the reason seniors aren’t being struck as often as younger adults and children, CDC spokesman Jeff Dimond said.
Seniors may be less likely to catch H1N1, but when they do, he said, “It can hit them pretty hard.”
He encouraged seniors to seek medical attention immediately if they come down with symptoms of H1N1, the most prevalent form of flu in the United States at this time.
To avoid getting or spreading H1N1, Arnold said seniors should wash their hands frequently, cover their coughs and stay home when sick.
O’Neill said seniors have noticed that all three of the H1N1-related deaths of Sangamon County residents involved people 65 or older who had other “underlying medical conditions.”
Calls for H1N1 shot appointments have surged after news reports of the deaths, she said, adding that about three-quarters of calls for appointments have come from people outside the risk groups — mostly from seniors.
“We’ve spend a lot of time trying to explain to people,” O’Neill said.
The CDC, which is overseeing distribution of H1N1 vaccine, already has delivered 73 million doses, and 10 million more doses will be shipped this week, Dimond said.
“There’s a lot of vaccine available,” he said, adding that as many as 113 million doses may be produced.
Oklahoma, in mid-November, was one of the first states to lift the restrictions and offer H1N1 vaccine to all people seeking shots in its state-operated local health departments. That was after the state first offered shots to high-risk groups, department spokesman Larry Weatherford said.
In addition to Arkansas, Alaska has expanded eligibility beyond the CDC recommendations. And in Texas, health officials in the state capital of Austin, as well as Dallas and Fort Worth, have decided to give the vaccine to everyone who wants it.
Medical providers that receive the vaccine, including health departments, sign an agreement with the CDC saying they will abide by CDC recommendations. But Arnold said it’s not against the law to veer from the agreement, and no one is enforcing the guidelines.
Medical providers, including health departments, have the latitude to decide whether enough high-risk people have received the vaccine to justify a broader distribution, she said.
In Illinois, local health departments aren’t technically part of the state health department but usually look to the state for advice when making policy decisions.
O’Neill said the Sangamon County department doesn’t plan to change the rules on who can get the H1N1 vaccine until the state gives its blessing.
The department will begin walk-in clinics for distributing H1N1 today — a change from the previous appointment-only setup.
O’Neill said she understands seniors’ concerns and fears. Many have called the department saying their doctors recommend they get an H1N1 shot.
O’Neill doesn’t deny that H1N1 can be a threat to some seniors’ health. But she said she hopes that seniors and others outside the CDC priority groups don’t show up to stand in a line for an H1N1 shot at the department because they will be turned away.
If the state says the restrictions should be lifted, the Sangamon department probably will hold several mass vaccination clinics for the general public, she said.
Priority groups for H1N1 vaccine
About the Sangamon County Health Department’s H1N1 vaccine doses
