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Sophia Orris, age 5, a kindergarten student at Pickering Valley Elementary School in Chester Springs, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia is given a dose of H1N1 2009 Intranasal vaccine which is the "Swine Flu" mist treatment by nurse Loriann Kissling on Monday Oct. 26, 2009.
GRASS VALLEY, Calif. — While health care workers already are receiving swine flu vaccinations this week, other residents will be able to get them soon, Nevada County's top doctor said Tuesday.
“We will advertise like crazy” with times and places H1N1 vaccinations will be available as the vaccine trickles into the county, Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Milman promised. The number of flu shot clinics will increase as more dosages arrive.
Officials still don't know when they will come, though they expect enough to vaccinate all county residents who want it by year's end.
Health care workers and first responders with high-risk patient contacts are receiving vaccinations first.
In the next few weeks, the county also will start holding H1N1 flu shot clinics for young children at schools, Milman said. Pregnant women and parents of children younger than six months also will be immunized early.
After that, the county will start opening clinics for the general population as supplies roll in, Milman said.
California has had widespread H1N1 flu activity for some time, Milman said. “The best tool we have around here (for prevention) is vaccination.”
Residents who do become sick need to consider those around them, Milman added.
“If you are sick, please stay home,” she said. “Just because you have a mild illness does not mean it will be mild to whomever you transmit it.”
Nevada County has seen three H1N1 hospitalizations, but no deaths yet, Milman said. “But we expect those figures to increase.”
In the last six weeks, almost 22,000 U.S. residents have been hospitalized with H1N1 flu, and more than 2,400 people have died, Milman said. In California, 3,500 people have landed in the hospital with the virus, with 233 reported deaths.
Hospitalizations and deaths for swine flu probably won't overtake the nation's annual numbers of seasonal flu victims, Milman said. However, she predicted more people will get sick with swine flu because of the lack of immunity.
Nevada County's known aversion to child immunizations already has surfaced in telephone calls to Milman's office, she said. But in a county that has seen whooping cough breakouts in recent years because children weren't immunized, another perspective is needed with H1N1 shots, she added.
“The risk of the illness is higher than the hypothetical risk of the vaccine,” Milman said.
“We will advertise like crazy” with times and places H1N1 vaccinations will be available as the vaccine trickles into the county, Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Milman promised. The number of flu shot clinics will increase as more dosages arrive.
Officials still don't know when they will come, though they expect enough to vaccinate all county residents who want it by year's end.
Health care workers and first responders with high-risk patient contacts are receiving vaccinations first.
In the next few weeks, the county also will start holding H1N1 flu shot clinics for young children at schools, Milman said. Pregnant women and parents of children younger than six months also will be immunized early.
After that, the county will start opening clinics for the general population as supplies roll in, Milman said.
California has had widespread H1N1 flu activity for some time, Milman said. “The best tool we have around here (for prevention) is vaccination.”
Residents who do become sick need to consider those around them, Milman added.
“If you are sick, please stay home,” she said. “Just because you have a mild illness does not mean it will be mild to whomever you transmit it.”
Nevada County has seen three H1N1 hospitalizations, but no deaths yet, Milman said. “But we expect those figures to increase.”
In the last six weeks, almost 22,000 U.S. residents have been hospitalized with H1N1 flu, and more than 2,400 people have died, Milman said. In California, 3,500 people have landed in the hospital with the virus, with 233 reported deaths.
Hospitalizations and deaths for swine flu probably won't overtake the nation's annual numbers of seasonal flu victims, Milman said. However, she predicted more people will get sick with swine flu because of the lack of immunity.
Nevada County's known aversion to child immunizations already has surfaced in telephone calls to Milman's office, she said. But in a county that has seen whooping cough breakouts in recent years because children weren't immunized, another perspective is needed with H1N1 shots, she added.
“The risk of the illness is higher than the hypothetical risk of the vaccine,” Milman said.
