Healthy asked to step aside for shots

RICHMOND | Virginia officials are reminding healthy adults to step aside and allow children, pregnant women and people with underlying health problems have the first crack at H1N1 influenza vaccinations.

Dr. Karen Remley, the state’s health commissioner, said at a briefing Friday that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had allocated fewer than 400,000 doses of vaccine to Virginia so far because of manufacturing delays. No vaccination sites have yet received all of what they’d originally anticipated.

She also said about 3.1 million Virginians fit into high-risk categories, slightly less than half the state’s population, so there’s already a wide mismatch in vaccine supply and demand.

Dr. Remley said that 240 school-based vaccination clinics have been held statewide since Virginia received its first allocation of vaccine, but production and distribution delays at vaccine manufacturers have forced many health departments to postpone or change schedules for other clinics.

The Virginia Department of Health originally said it expected the state to receive about 1.3 million doses of its anticipated total allocation of 4.7 million doses of vaccine by the end of the month. Dr. Remley said Friday that the total allocation will be decreased by nearly half of the originally planned amount.

Dr. Remley said the health department still hopes the swine-flu vaccine will be widely available to all Virginians by mid-November. She acknowledged, however, that could change, and advised people to continue other prevention tactics such as frequent hand-washing, staying home if they’re sick, and social distancing.

About 14 percent of patient visits to emergency rooms and urgent-care medical centers have been flu-related, Dr. Remley said, compared to 7 percent in each of the last two flu seasons. She said people should consult their health care providers for guidance before going to the ER or urgent-care centers.

Information is available from the Virginia Department of Health at PHIC@vdh.virginia.gov and by phone weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 877/ASK-VDH3.