Shots would be given weeks apart
By MARY SHEDDEN The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 24, 2009
TAMPA - Local health officials accustomed to distributing flu shots worry that administering a potential swine flu vaccine could be a logistical nightmare.
Federal health officials this week announced they are about to start clinical trials on vaccines for the swine flu responsible for six deaths in the Tampa Bay area and 25 deaths in Florida. The testing is on a fast track with the hope that a vaccine can be distributed this October, at the start of the more traditional flu season.
Any new vaccine, however, will be separate from the increasingly common seasonal flu vaccine available at local clinics, grocery stores and workplaces. And the swine flu vaccine could involve a series of two shots, given 28 days apart, said Warren McDougle, Hillsborough County Health Department epidemiologist.
That's going to be a hard sell, particularly because it just sounds so inconvenient, says JoAnn Shea, a nurse practitioner and director of employee health services at Tampa General Hospital. A swine flu vaccine would require two trips to a clinic, and that's in addition to the seasonal flu shot many already get.
Shea said last year, her team administered 4,500 seasonal flu shots to the almost 7,000 eligible employees and volunteers at Tampa General. Some got the shot elsewhere, but still, 1,200 refused the free offer. The top reason cited in a survey: inconvenience.
"If we didn't make it convenient for them, they would not get them," she said.
That's partly why Tampa General and local health departments already are hashing out the logistics of distributing a possible swine flu vaccine. "It's going to be a challenge for all health care organizations," she said.
Individuals don't have to wait for a vaccine to take steps to prevent the spread of swine flu, health officials said. Regular hand-washing or covering your mouth when sneezing or coughing can make a significant difference. Hygiene is particularly important for people in large groups, such as summer camps.
Testing on the potential swine flu vaccine is estimated to take about two months. If it is approved, vaccinations would be voluntary and rolled out in stages to handle the speed at which doses are being produced. Tests are being done on roughly 2,400 adults in eight states, according to the New York Times.
Swine flu has been declared a worldwide pandemic, not because of the severity of its symptoms, but because of its ability to spread quickly. Swine flu symptoms, such as a fever, tiredness and a sore throat, are normally milder than the seasonal flu, which is responsible for 36,000 deaths nationwide each year.
The good news: Despite a brisk flu season in the Southern Hemisphere, the new swine flu isn't yet mutating to become more dangerous, said Dr. Nancy Cox of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It's actually quite surprising" that the virus is showing so little genetic variation given its rapid spread, Cox said. Since April, it has sickened more than a million people in the United States alone and circled the globe in a matter of weeks.
The global swine flu epidemic is still in its early stages, even though reports of over 100,000 infections in England alone last week are plausible, the World Health Organization's flu chief said Friday,
Keiji Fukuda, WHO's Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment, said that given the size of the world's population, the new H1N1 virus is likely to spread for some time. WHO earlier estimated that as many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two years.
"Even if we have hundreds of thousands of cases, or a few millions of cases ... we're relatively early in the pandemic," Fukuda said.
The global health agency stopped asking governments to report new cases last week, saying the effort was too great now that the disease has become so widespread in some countries.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Mary Shedden can be reached at (813) 259-7365.
Published: July 24, 2009
TAMPA - Local health officials accustomed to distributing flu shots worry that administering a potential swine flu vaccine could be a logistical nightmare.
Federal health officials this week announced they are about to start clinical trials on vaccines for the swine flu responsible for six deaths in the Tampa Bay area and 25 deaths in Florida. The testing is on a fast track with the hope that a vaccine can be distributed this October, at the start of the more traditional flu season.
Any new vaccine, however, will be separate from the increasingly common seasonal flu vaccine available at local clinics, grocery stores and workplaces. And the swine flu vaccine could involve a series of two shots, given 28 days apart, said Warren McDougle, Hillsborough County Health Department epidemiologist.
That's going to be a hard sell, particularly because it just sounds so inconvenient, says JoAnn Shea, a nurse practitioner and director of employee health services at Tampa General Hospital. A swine flu vaccine would require two trips to a clinic, and that's in addition to the seasonal flu shot many already get.
Shea said last year, her team administered 4,500 seasonal flu shots to the almost 7,000 eligible employees and volunteers at Tampa General. Some got the shot elsewhere, but still, 1,200 refused the free offer. The top reason cited in a survey: inconvenience.
"If we didn't make it convenient for them, they would not get them," she said.
That's partly why Tampa General and local health departments already are hashing out the logistics of distributing a possible swine flu vaccine. "It's going to be a challenge for all health care organizations," she said.
Individuals don't have to wait for a vaccine to take steps to prevent the spread of swine flu, health officials said. Regular hand-washing or covering your mouth when sneezing or coughing can make a significant difference. Hygiene is particularly important for people in large groups, such as summer camps.
Testing on the potential swine flu vaccine is estimated to take about two months. If it is approved, vaccinations would be voluntary and rolled out in stages to handle the speed at which doses are being produced. Tests are being done on roughly 2,400 adults in eight states, according to the New York Times.
Swine flu has been declared a worldwide pandemic, not because of the severity of its symptoms, but because of its ability to spread quickly. Swine flu symptoms, such as a fever, tiredness and a sore throat, are normally milder than the seasonal flu, which is responsible for 36,000 deaths nationwide each year.
The good news: Despite a brisk flu season in the Southern Hemisphere, the new swine flu isn't yet mutating to become more dangerous, said Dr. Nancy Cox of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It's actually quite surprising" that the virus is showing so little genetic variation given its rapid spread, Cox said. Since April, it has sickened more than a million people in the United States alone and circled the globe in a matter of weeks.
The global swine flu epidemic is still in its early stages, even though reports of over 100,000 infections in England alone last week are plausible, the World Health Organization's flu chief said Friday,
Keiji Fukuda, WHO's Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment, said that given the size of the world's population, the new H1N1 virus is likely to spread for some time. WHO earlier estimated that as many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two years.
"Even if we have hundreds of thousands of cases, or a few millions of cases ... we're relatively early in the pandemic," Fukuda said.
The global health agency stopped asking governments to report new cases last week, saying the effort was too great now that the disease has become so widespread in some countries.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Mary Shedden can be reached at (813) 259-7365.