Health Officials Expand H1N1 Vaccine Target Groups

CENTRAL OHIO—Central Ohio health officials have expanded H1N1 vaccine target groups and were beginning to vaccinate children ages 6 months to 18 years.

NBC 4’s Tom Brockman reported with the FAST FACTS.

DELAWARE COUNTY
The Delaware County Health Department has scheduled an H1N1 vaccination clinic from 1 to 6 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Delaware County Fairgrounds, north of the city of Delaware.

Vehicles must enter the fairgrounds from the U.S. Route 23 entrance.

The clinics were scheduled for people in high-risk groups such as health-care workers, pregnant women, adult caregivers of children younger than 6 months of age and children ages 6 months to 18 years.

FRANKLIN COUNTY
Columbus Public Health opened its H1N1 vaccination clinics to all children ages 6 months to 18 years Monday and Tuesday.

Columbus Public Health started to vaccinate children 6 months to 18 years Monday.

The clinics will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Veterans Memorial, 300 W. Broad St., Columbus.

NBC 4’s Candice Lee reported from the clinic and said the department was vaccinating as many as 300 to 400 people per hour.

CPH had about 2,200 combined injections and mist vaccines, and about 900 people were vaccinated by 5 p.m. Monday.

Lee said people started standing in line at 9 a.m. Monday.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Flu Mist will be provided to all people ages 2 to 49 with no medical complications.

The vaccinations are free of charge.

Children should wear short or loose sleeves and eat something before they come.

Children will not be vaccinated if they are sick with flu-like symptoms.

All children 9 years and younger must receive a second dose of vaccine after 28 days to be fully protected.

Vaccination clinics were focused on high-risk groups such as health-care workers, pregnant women, adult caregivers of children younger than 6 months of age and children ages 6 months to 4 years.

Health officials said the vaccination target group was expanded because of an increase in available vaccines and the fact that many in the high-risk groups have been vaccinated.

People in high-risk groups also are welcome at Monday and Tuesday’s clinics.

If you’re planning to head out to one of the clinics, expect a wait.

On Monday, the Health Department gave out 2090 vaccines.

LICKING COUNTY
Licking County resident David McDaniel can’t stand the sound of his young son crying but said he believes vaccinating against H1N1 is important.

“Kind of terrible watching him cry, but, I mean, it needs to be done,“ McDaniel said.

“I was just really worried about the swine flu. I mean, you hear about deaths,“ McDaniel’s wife said.

After dispensing nearly 4,000 does of the H1N1 vaccine to those in high-risk groups during the past three weeks, the Licking County Health Department began vaccinating children of all ages Monday.

The department currently has around 1,000 doses of the vaccine and expected another 3,000 to arrive Tuesday, Licking County Health Commissioner Joe Ebel said.

Click here for information on the county’s clinics.

Ebel said he encourages all parents to take advantage, especially after the county saw its first H1N1 fatality last week. Click here to read the story.

Ebel said the target groups were expanded in Licking County because of opportunity and need.

“We felt we’ve given those groups enough opportunity if they really wanted to get it right away to have that chance, so now we’ve gone to the next level,“ Ebel said. “We’re trying to get it out as fast as we can to every risk group and give them a shot and work our way up.“

Karen Mills, who is pregnant and already received her shot, brought her 20-month-old son, Landon, to the clinic Monday.

Mills said her husband came down with what doctors believe is H1N1.

“Seeing my husband go through it just the one night—he had very bad symptoms,“ Mills said. “That’s scary to think how Landon could deal with that.“

The Licking County clinics were open to the following five risk groups: all children ages 6 months to 18 years, individuals ages 19 to 24 with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, caregivers and household contacts to children younger than 6 months of age and EMS and health-care workers.

UNION COUNTY
The Union County Health Department has scheduled two H1N1 vaccination clinics for people in five at-risk target groups.

The clinics were scheduled for 1 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at Old Marysville Middle School, 833 N. Maple St., in Marysville, and 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, at the Union County Health Department, 940 London Ave., in Marysville.

The clinics were open to these at-risk groups: pregnant women (still need proof of pregnancy from their doctor), health-care workers and EMS with direct patient care, caregivers and household contacts of infants younger than 6 months, children ages 6 months to 24 years and adults ages 25 to 64 years with chronic medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, weakened immune system, etc.

Thursday, Nov. 12, clinic attendees should enter off Amrine Mill Road, use the gravel parking lot between the school and the football stadium, and enter at Entrance L to get a vaccination ticket. After receiving a ticket and returning to the clinic, please reenter clinic at Entrance M. All vehicles exit the clinic using the service drive to the north of the school.

Vaccination tickets were to be passed out at 11 a.m. or later, depending on crowd size. Only one person per family should get tickets for all eligible family members. The tickets have your number and a timeframe for your return. Once you receive one ticket for each of your eligible family members, you were asked to leave the clinic area and not return until the timeframe listed. Once you receive your ticket, you will be vaccinated at the clinic, even if you return and your number already has been called.

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