$350 million to aid in flu fight

Georgia could see an unprecedented mass vaccination this fall as health officials hope to stave off another pandemic from the novel influenza A H1N1 virus and keep it from mixing with seasonal flu viruses.

"The effort will be I think the largest vaccination effort ever undertaken in the state of Georgia," said J. Patrick O'Neal, chief of the Emergency Preparedness & Response Division of the Georgia Department of Community Health. He spoke by phone from Washington, D.C., where state and federal health officials held a summit Thursday on the novel virus and announced $350 million would be going to the states to help them prepare for it.

The money will be distributed by population so Dr. O'Neal said he wasn't sure how much the state will get, but he thought it would be between $5 million and $7 million. The money will be distributed in three major areas, Dr. O'Neal said. One is to help hospitals prepare by replacing personal protection items such as masks and gloves already used and ensure they are well stocked for any potential pandemic, he said. Another chunk will go to restock labs "and expanding the capacity of the labs if possible since we're anticipating that we may have to do a lot more testing this fall than we've done so far," Dr. O'Neal said. It will also go to expanding the state epidemiological surveillance system, perhaps even hiring temporary workers to follow up with those who get the potential H1N1 vaccine.

"Are there complications? Is the vaccine effective or are people continuing to get sick in spite of receiving the vaccine?" Dr. O'Neal asked. "All of that kind of data has to be gathered by epidemiologists."

The final chunk will go to the cost of administering the vaccine themselves. The federal government will supply the H1N1 vaccine free, along with things such as needles and syringes, but there will be other costs to administer it and do a mass campaign, Dr. O'Neal said. For instance, the state might have to rent facilities to do a mass vaccination campaign.

Though there is no H1N1 vaccine approved yet, the states are preparing as if there will be one and Dr. O'Neal said a mass campaign could begin by mid-October if all goes well. The state will also be doing a mass vaccination on seasonal flu this year, he said.

"It's extraordinarily important this year that we take all of the steps possible to minimize all of the seasonal flu that we can, as well as minimizing H1N1," Dr. O'Neal said. The novel virus has proven relatively mild so far, but officials fear it could mutate and become more virulent. Having H1N1 mingle with seasonal viruses means it could "re-assort in a dangerous way," he said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.