H1N1 vaccine covers just 4 schools so far

St. Mary's College also got early doses

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

"The state has ordered more H1N1 vaccine," said Karen Everett, spokesperson for county government and health department.

The St. Mary's County Health Department initially ordered 8,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine and so far has received 2,700 doses. Of those, 1,223 doses have been administered, mostly to middle and high school students in addition to health workers and emergency response personnel, Everett said.

Swine flu and seasonal flu vaccines are being offered at no cost to all public school students, but the only mass swine flu vaccination clinics in the public schools so far have occurred at Leonardtown High School and Leonardtown, Spring Ridge and Margaret Brent middle schools for children and staff at those schools. St. Mary's College of Maryland has received its ordered doses as well for faculty, staff and students at the college.

"The county health department is making daily health decisions" as limited numbers of the H1N1 vaccine arrive, Everett said. One day last week, a small number of vaccine doses were given to obstetricians in the county to give to pregnant women.

So far more than 1,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine have been given in St. Mary's public schools, said Trish Wince, schools supervisor of health services. The health department plans to vaccinate students at Mechanicsville, White Marsh, Lettie Dent, Dynard and Banneker elementary schools next Tuesday.

Leonardtown middle and high schools held the first clinics for swine flu on Oct. 20, followed by Margaret Brent two days later.

The remainder of the first batch of swine flu vaccine was to be disturbed Tuesday when both Spring Ridge Middle and Chopticon High School had clinics scheduled. Only Spring Ridge received the vaccinations; Chopticon students could get them in a follow-up clinic in a few weeks if more vaccine arrives, Wince said. "We didn't have enough to cover all of Chopticon High, but we could cover all of Spring Ridge," based on the number of consent forms returned by parents, she said. "We kind of go day by day. We're very fluid."

Another batch of the vaccine is expected to arrive in the county early next week from the state, Wince said.

St. Mary's College received 1,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine and began inoculating students and staff last week and will have a fourth and final clinic Nov. 3. "We are just vaccinating students, faculty and staff," said Laura Bayless, dean of students and chair of the college's emergency response team. She said Alberta Hickman, the college's director of health services, ordered the vaccines immediately after they became available. That, coupled with college-aged students being considered a particularly high risk for the swine flu, helped the college get its complete order of doses.

If campus demand for the vaccine drops after the fourth clinic, the college would work with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to return any unused vaccine, Bayless said. "We absolutely wouldn't just keep it here. We would try to get it to wherever the need is," Bayless said.

Two more Marylanders, including an 18-year-old, were confirmed dead of the swine flu this week, bringing the state's death toll to 12. President Barack Obama last weekend declared H1N1 a national emergency.

Holly Meyer, director of marketing and public relations for the hospital, said that from May through Oct. 17 this year, St. Mary's Hospital tested 750 influenza A swabs from patients. Of those tests, 76 were confirmed cases of H1N1.

The H1N1 flu virus was confirmed in St. Mary's public schools in a letter sent Oct. 13 by Superintendent Michael Martirano. To be considered confirmed, a viral culture test must be checked by the Centers for Disease Control or another health agency with proper equipment.

Some students at most of the public schools exhibited symptoms consistent with the swine flu as of the end of September, school health officials said then.

Students and staff with a temperature of 100 degrees or greater are asked to stay home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever without the use of fever-reducing medication.

St. Mary's Hospital and the health department ran out of seasonal flu vaccinations earlier this month and suspended some of its flu clinics for the general public. Seasonal flu vaccination clinics will go on as planned for school children at every public school this fall.

The vaccination shots for both the seasonal and swine flus contain the killed virus. The nasal mist contains the live, but weakened, flu virus. Two injections can be given, one for seasonal and H1N1 flu, but two nasal sprays can't be given at the same time. There has to be a four-week wait between sprays.

jyeatman@somdnews.com