Swine flu vaccine on way to area

Vaccine against the new influenza A H1N1 virus is in Georgia and is coming to South Carolina as the first 2.2 million doses roll out to the states and make their way to local health clinics, a process the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday would likely be "bumpy" and "messy."

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Associated Press

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Associated Press

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The vaccine is expected to reach Augusta-area counties this week, an official with the East Central Health District said.

Health officials are also concerned about fears people have of the new vaccine, fears they are trying to address, and the hesitancy of some to get it, CDC Director Thomas Frieden said.

About 2.2 million of the 2.4 million doses have been ordered by states, and more is expected to become available on a daily and weekly basis, Dr. Frieden said. The first doses are a nasal spray vaccine approved only for healthy people ages 2 to 49, but injectable vaccine is expected next week, Dr. Frieden said. Vaccine is shipped out as soon as it comes off the production line to one of four distribution centers. Some will be shipped directly to state health departments and larger providers who order more than 100 shots.

"It is a very big and complex undertaking," Dr. Frieden said. "It's a little bit of a messy process, and we expect it to be somewhat bumpy in the first few weeks."

However, "it will be widely available in the next few weeks," he said.

The Augusta health district will likely send its first doses to the larger county health departments so they can set up vaccination clinics, first in children 2 to 4 years old, said Melba McNorrill, the child health and immunization coordinator.

Aiken County's two health department locations should have the H1N1 vaccine available as early as today, said Adam Myrick, the spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The vaccine will be administered at the Aiken County and North Augusta health departments and at some private health care providers.

Richmond County schools are expecting to have school clinics for the new vaccine around the end of October in the same way they offered seasonal flu shots recently, spokesman Louis Svehla said.

Other priority groups for the new vaccine established by the CDC include:

- Pregnant women

- Health care workers

- Infants, children and young adults from 6 months to 24 years old

- People 25 and older with chronic illnesses such as asthma and diabetes

- Caregivers and household contacts of infants younger than 6 months, because those infants cannot receive flu vaccine

Those who don't fall into those categories will likely be able to get the vaccine later, Dr. Frieden said.

"We're very confident that there will be plenty of vaccine for everyone who wants to be vaccinated," he said.

The government has ordered 195 million doses of the vaccine.

Dr. Frieden sought to allay fears about the safety of the vaccine, noting that it is made in exactly the same way as seasonal flu vaccine by the same companies and that there is a long safety record for that process.

"With the production of this vaccine, we have cut no corners," he said. The safety of the vaccine "is something that we have a high degree of confidence in."

Staff Writers Stephanie Toone and Preston Sparks contributed to this report.

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