H1N1 Vaccine Arrives In Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The H1N1 vaccine has arrived in Ohio.

The State of Ohio received 61,500 doses of the nasal vaccine Thursday afternoon. The vaccine was being repackaged and sent to hospitals and public health departments.

Health care workers who work one-on-one with patients will be the first to receive the vaccine.

But for the general public, a new poll revealed that not everyone wants the vaccine.

The Associated Press-GfK poll showed that only about half of Americans said they want the vaccine.

Some parents say they are concerned about side effects from the new vaccine - even though nothing serious has turned up in tests so far - while others say swine flu doesn't amount to any greater health threat than seasonal flu.

The AP poll found that 38 percent of parents said they were unlikely to give permission for their kids to be vaccinated at school.

The belief that the new vaccine could be risky is one federal health officials have been fighting from the start, and they plan an unprecedented system of monitoring for side effects.

They note that swine flu vaccine is made the same way as seasonal flu vaccines that have been used for years. And no scary side effects have turned up in tests on volunteers, including children.

On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appealed for widespread inoculation against swine flu, vouching unconditionally for the vaccine: "We know it's safe and secure."

The AP poll, conducted Oct. 1-5, found 72 percent of those surveyed are worried about side effects, although more than half say that wouldn't stop them from getting the vaccine to protect their kids from the new flu.

Of those in the high-risk group of ages 18 to 29, only 45 percent said they will receive the shot, saying they are worried about the vaccine.

"I probably won't get one since I don't know where to find it or if it will actually treat whatever strain is coming out," said Karen Johnson, an area resident.

Others said they have concerns that the vaccine is being rushed.

Dr. Julie Mangino with The Ohio State University Medical center is an expert in infectious disease and said the development process is nothing new.

"The processes used for the seasonal influenza are identical to the processes used for the H1N1 vaccine is really more like the early fall seasonal vaccine," Mangino said.

For some parents, fears are compounded by worries about thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that will be in roughly 60 percent of the 225 million swine flu doses ordered for Americans.

"Thimerosal is a preservative, multi-dose vial, as opposed to single dose vials and they should not worry about that," Mangino said.

The preservative is not in the FluMist nasal spray, which can be given to healthy kids age 2 and older. But it's in many injectable doses, which are packaged in multi-dose vials that require thimerosal to prevent bacterial contamination.

The AP-GfK poll was based on a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults age 18 or older, contacted by telephone on land lines and cell phones. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for all adults, 5.2 percentage points for parents.

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The Associated Press contributed to the content of this article.