-nytimes.com-
The federal health official in charge of immunization and respiratory diseases said Friday that swine flu vaccine should be distributed through many outlets, including workplace clinics, to get it to high-risk people as quickly and efficiently as possible. The official, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was responding to a furor caused by the revelation that the employee health departments of some big Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, had received small shipments of vaccine — while pediatricians, clinics and major hospitals waited for their full allotments.
“There’s nothing wrong with an employer-based clinic,” Dr. Schuchat said. “When you look at adults and where they get vaccinated, it’s a common place. It’s convenient.” Workplaces often have employees who are pregnant, have newborns at home, or have asthma or diabetes, she said, adding, “Our goal is put vaccine in the path of people who are in those priority groups to make it as easy as possible for them to be vaccinated.”
Goldman Sachs got 200 doses for its 8,700 New York employees, a spokeswoman said, and had signed an agreement saying they would all go to people in the high-risk groups specified by the disease control centers. Local health departments decide who gets each vaccine lot, and the centers sent a letter to all state, county and city health officers on Thursday reminding them to make sure it was going only to people at risk.
The agency itself had “no evidence that providers were giving vaccine outside the recommended priority populations,” Dr. Schuchat said. Independent flu experts noted that workplace clinics could control who got vaccine, while public vaccination campaigns have been plagued by reports of people begging vaccinators for shots or admitting having lied about being pregnant or asthmatic. Dr. Schuchat also praised the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District in Illinois for its program for disabled children. Nurses give shots in the parking lot “so when parents bring the kids in with special needs, they don’t have to get out of the car,” she said. Children with muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular diseases appear to be at the highest risk of dying from swine flu, she said, followed by children with severe asthma.
Flu is widespread in 48 states, and virtually every sample taken is swine flu rather than seasonal flu, Dr. Schuchat said. More than half of all hospitalizations are of people under 25. As of Friday, 129 children had died of swine flu since April, and others who were not tested have died from flulike symptoms. Almost one-third had been healthy, with no underlying problems. About 38 million doses of vaccine are available now, Dr. Schuchat said. Canada had its own swine flu vaccine distribution brouhaha this week, and on Friday, a second member of the Alberta provincial health administration lost his job over it, according to The Edmonton Journal. Members of the Calgary Flames hockey team and their families had been allowed to avoid long public lines and get vaccinated at their arena on Oct. 30, one day before the province canceled mass immunizations after demand created a shortage.
The flu is taking a toll on the National Hockey League. Members of the Boston Bruins, the New York Islanders, the Edmonton Oilers, the Colorado Avalanche, the Washington Capitals and the Detroit Red Wings have all been out sick recently, The Boston Globe reported. In Milwaukee, a truck containing 900 doses of swine flu vaccine was stolen as it idled outside a flu clinic Thursday night, The Associated Press reported. The police said it was found abandoned less than an hour later with the vaccine intact. But officials decided to throw the doses away; because the vaccine must be kept refrigerated and its sterility must be assured, it was considered compromised in that time outside the city’s custody.
The federal health official in charge of immunization and respiratory diseases said Friday that swine flu vaccine should be distributed through many outlets, including workplace clinics, to get it to high-risk people as quickly and efficiently as possible. The official, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was responding to a furor caused by the revelation that the employee health departments of some big Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, had received small shipments of vaccine — while pediatricians, clinics and major hospitals waited for their full allotments.
“There’s nothing wrong with an employer-based clinic,” Dr. Schuchat said. “When you look at adults and where they get vaccinated, it’s a common place. It’s convenient.” Workplaces often have employees who are pregnant, have newborns at home, or have asthma or diabetes, she said, adding, “Our goal is put vaccine in the path of people who are in those priority groups to make it as easy as possible for them to be vaccinated.”
Goldman Sachs got 200 doses for its 8,700 New York employees, a spokeswoman said, and had signed an agreement saying they would all go to people in the high-risk groups specified by the disease control centers. Local health departments decide who gets each vaccine lot, and the centers sent a letter to all state, county and city health officers on Thursday reminding them to make sure it was going only to people at risk.
The agency itself had “no evidence that providers were giving vaccine outside the recommended priority populations,” Dr. Schuchat said. Independent flu experts noted that workplace clinics could control who got vaccine, while public vaccination campaigns have been plagued by reports of people begging vaccinators for shots or admitting having lied about being pregnant or asthmatic. Dr. Schuchat also praised the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District in Illinois for its program for disabled children. Nurses give shots in the parking lot “so when parents bring the kids in with special needs, they don’t have to get out of the car,” she said. Children with muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and other neuromuscular diseases appear to be at the highest risk of dying from swine flu, she said, followed by children with severe asthma.
Flu is widespread in 48 states, and virtually every sample taken is swine flu rather than seasonal flu, Dr. Schuchat said. More than half of all hospitalizations are of people under 25. As of Friday, 129 children had died of swine flu since April, and others who were not tested have died from flulike symptoms. Almost one-third had been healthy, with no underlying problems. About 38 million doses of vaccine are available now, Dr. Schuchat said. Canada had its own swine flu vaccine distribution brouhaha this week, and on Friday, a second member of the Alberta provincial health administration lost his job over it, according to The Edmonton Journal. Members of the Calgary Flames hockey team and their families had been allowed to avoid long public lines and get vaccinated at their arena on Oct. 30, one day before the province canceled mass immunizations after demand created a shortage.
The flu is taking a toll on the National Hockey League. Members of the Boston Bruins, the New York Islanders, the Edmonton Oilers, the Colorado Avalanche, the Washington Capitals and the Detroit Red Wings have all been out sick recently, The Boston Globe reported. In Milwaukee, a truck containing 900 doses of swine flu vaccine was stolen as it idled outside a flu clinic Thursday night, The Associated Press reported. The police said it was found abandoned less than an hour later with the vaccine intact. But officials decided to throw the doses away; because the vaccine must be kept refrigerated and its sterility must be assured, it was considered compromised in that time outside the city’s custody.
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