Swine flu vaccine production going slowly in Dallas County

by Brian Allen of Best Southwest Citizen

DALLAS — Dallas County received 700 doses of H1N1 vaccines this week, with officials not saying exactly how they plan to distribute them. The first shipment of 700 vaccines went quickly as it got distributed to health care workers, who are at greater risk because of their jobs. Other high-risk groups being prioritized are pregnant women, those in contact with infants, people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years, and anyone ages 25 to 64 with existing health problems.

The county also marked its 10th swine flu related death since April, a 57-year-old man. In reporting his death Monday, Dallas County Health and Human Services officials noted he had several other underlying issues. Nationally, 800 people have lost their lives in the swine flu outbreak.

Vaccine shortages are a problem nationwide, as the United States has received only 13 million of the more than 120 million doses federal officials promised. That promise has been revised with the government now hoping to have 50 million doses ready by November. According to the Associated Press, 188 schools were closed today because of illness, keeping 65,000 children at home.

Officials are hard pressed to say how bad the problem will become because of the wide variety of unknown factors. No one can really say how quickly it will spread, if it will mutate to a stronger form, or what impact the lack of vaccines will have. A Purdue University study says that at the current rate of production, the majority of the vaccines will arrive too late to slow the spread of the virus.

Not everyone is wringing their hands about a shortage of the vaccine. There are millions of people leery about vaccine safety, according to numbers provided by a Harvard School of Public Health study.

About four in 10 adults said they would not get the new vaccine and one in five said they would not have their children vaccinated. The safety of vaccines was a hot button issue before swine flu came on the scene, fueled by parents convinced the cure is often worse than the disease.