Elementary school wins swine flu lottery

Students at Spring Ridge Elementary School will get the first doses of H1N1 flu vaccine provided to the Frederick County Health Department, according to Dr. Barbara Brookmyer, Frederick County health officer. The vaccinations will likely begin after Oct. 19.

The department received 600 doses of FluMist nasal spray vaccine this week, nowhere near the quantity that was ordered, Brookmyer said Wednesday in a news conference.

Schools were chosen by lottery. Younger people are at the highest risk of H1N1, popularly known as swine flu, so that's why the department chose to vaccinate elementary school children first.

As the department gets additional shipments of flu vaccine, students at the remaining elementary schools will be vaccinated. All elementary schools in Frederick County, public and private, were included in the lottery. Monocacy Elementary is second on the list. Students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade in each school will be offered the vaccine.

"Once we have enough flu vaccine to cover one school, we will administer it to that school," Brookmyer said. "We will wait until we have enough vaccine on hand for an entire school." The vaccinations will be free, as are all flu vaccinations given by the department.

Other high-risk groups to be vaccinated as soon as supplies become available are pregnant women and health care workers.

Children 9 and under will need two doses of the FluMist. That is similar to seasonal flu vaccine, which requires two doses for children 8 and younger.

Consent forms need to be distributed to parents, signed and returned to school before students can be given the nasal spray. Kids do better with the nasal flu vaccine than adults, Brookmyer said. "Kids are more tolerant of things in their noses," she said.

"We have had to make some difficult decisions about how to distribute this vaccine and to whom to distribute this vaccine," Brookmyer said. "We are making every effort to administer the vaccine as quickly as possible."

Pregnant women are considered to be at highest risk of developing complications if they contract swine flu. Next to pregnant women, young people ages 6 months to 24 years are at the highest risk for complications from the viral disease.

"A disproportionately high mortality rate is being observed in pregnant women," Brookmyer said.

Others at high-risk are adults ages 25 to 64 who have asthma, heart disease, diabetes or other chronic conditions. People who live or work with infants younger than 6 months are asked to get vaccinated as soon as vaccines become available, because babies must be 6 months old before they can be vaccinated.

The health department will offer clinics around the county to vaccinate residents other than schoolchildren once supplies arrive.

"We've ordered tens of thousands of doses," Brookmyer said. "I hope at some point, we start receiving the vaccine daily."

Clinics will take place around the county at various times to avoid lines and accommodate people's schedules.

"The vaccination is completely voluntary, just like that for seasonal flu vaccine," she said.

Some pediatricians and family doctors in Frederick County may have also received a limited number of flu vaccine doses. People should check with their provider, Brookmyer said.

Flu vaccines are normally developed and manufactured in the spring, stockpiled in warehouses in the summer and shipped to clinics and health care providers starting in September.

"The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) waived the option to stockpile the vaccine in warehouses," Brookmyer said. "As it's rolling off the production line, the vaccine is being distributed quickly."

The FluMist nasal spray can be given to healthy children 2 and older. Ongoing clinical trials show it takes no more than two weeks for the vaccine, either the FluMist or the injectible vaccine, to be effective. People cannot get the flu from the vaccine, Brookmyer said.

Flu can be a hidden menace, she said. "People can spread influenza virus one to two days before they show symptoms," Brookmyer said.

Children spread the virus most quickly, especially children in schools and child care centers, who are in close quarters.

Unlike most flu viruses, this virus seems to be striking the young particularly hard, Brookmyer said.

There have been nine deaths in Maryland from swine flu since June. Two of those victims were children, and one of those children did not have any recognizable pre-existing health condition.

Swine flu, like seasonal flu, can cause bacterial infections in about 30 percent of cases.

Not all parents will want their children vaccinated, Brookmyer said, but she asked for parents' cooperation. "If you can do something to reduce having your child feel discomfort, I think most people will accept that."

Copyright 2009 The Frederick News-Post. All rights reserved.