Provincial and regional health officials are encouraging people to get the H1N1 vaccine, which was made available in the province last week. The vaccine is expected within the Interior Health coverage area by the first week of November. Photo by Paul Everest - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-October 28, 2009
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
The H1N1 flu vaccine could be available in Osoyoos to certain people as early as next week.
What is being called the “largest vaccination campaign in British Columbia’s history” was announced by the province last week as roughly 230,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in B.C. for distribution.
Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.’s provincial health officer, said on Oct. 21 that those doses were being repackaged and shipped to various health authorities across the province and would be ready for administration in some places as early as Oct. 26.
On Oct. 22, Dr. Andrew Larder, Interior Health’s senior medical health officer, said that with the exception of Vernon, Creston and 100 Mile House, which will have vaccination clinics this week, communities in Interior Health’s coverage area, including Osoyoos, could expect to see the vaccine the first week of November.
The vaccination process will consist of a phased approach based on who is most at risk of developing complications from the virus.
The first phase, starting the week of Oct. 26, will include people under the age of 65 with chronic disease, pregnant women in the second half of their pregnancy and people living in remote or isolated communities, including members of First Nations reserves.
According to the province, “these groups are at high-risk for suffering complications from pandemic H1N1 infection.”
While the seasonal flu vaccination campaign has so far only been available for people over the age of 65— the group most vulnerable to that strain of flu— the H1N1 campaign is targeting younger people.
The reason for that is because many people born before 1957 have been exposed to strains of the flu similar to H1N1 and may have had a chance to develop some resistance to this strain.
The second phase, beginning the week of Nov. 2, will target children older than six months but younger than five years, health-care workers, people who help care for infants less than six months old and people whose immune systems are compromised.
People who fall into the first or second groups and those people for whom the seasonal flu vaccine is normally recommended will be able to receive both shots at the same time.
Both H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines will be administered for free.
Although health officials had initially recommended against getting the H1N1 vaccine and the seasonal flu vaccine at the same time, the government has now said it is safe for people to get the shots together as tests have shown receiving both vaccines will not impair the immune system’s response to either vaccine.
PEOPLE NOT IN HIGH-RISK GROUPS ASKED TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT MONTH TO GET THEIR SHOT
The government is asking those who do not fall into these groups to wait to receive their vaccine until mid to late November, when everyone else wishing to get the vaccination will be eligible to do so.
The H1N1 vaccine was approved by Health Canada last week and is a vaccine that contains an adjuvant, a compound that boosts the immune system’s response to the vaccine.
That allows for smaller doses to be used per person.
A version of the vaccine without an adjuvant, which is recommended for pregnant women, will be available in B.C. by the second week of November.
Health officials are urging pregnant women not to wait for the unadjuvanted vaccine, however, because the province is experiencing epidemic levels of the H1N1 virus now and pregnant women in the second half of their pregnancy are among those at highest risk of severe complications from the virus.
Overall the province ordered nearly 4.2 million doses of the adjuvanted vaccine and 216,000 doses of the vaccine without the adjuvant.
The B.C. government is covering 40 per cent, or $20 million, of the cost of bringing in the H1N1 vaccine that will be given out in the province and the federal government is covering the other 60 per cent.
Since Oct. 13, there have been 33 new severe cases of H1N1 identified in B.C. with two new deaths.
Six of the new cases were in Interior Health’s coverage area.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has confirmed 111 severe H1N1 cases in the province since April, including 20 cases and two deaths in Interior Health’s jurisdiction.
In contrast, the B.C. Health Services Ministry said in a media release that between 400 and 800 people in British Columbia die from the seasonal flu or pneumonia each year.
The World Health Organization raised its alert level for the H1N1 flu to phase 6, or the pandemic phase, in June.
However, the organization considers the overall severity of the pandemic to be moderate and most people recover from infection without the need for medical care or hospitalization.
In a conference call with reporters on Oct. 22 hosted by Interior Health, Larder said there has been a “rapidly” rising trend of H1N1 activity and health officials expect increasing activity for another five or six weeks.
He added, however, that the vaccine could have an effect on that “wave” of activity if it is delivered to the population quickly.
Larder also said last week was the sixth week that “surveillance data” has shown “sharply increasing” seasonal flu activity in Interior Health’s coverage area.
That data has shown that 4.1 per cent of all visits to Interior Health’s physician network last week were due to influenza.
“This is twice as high as the historic maximum that we see in a typical influenza season,” Larder said, adding that Medical Service Plan billing in Interior Health’s jurisdiction due to influenza is above the “historic maximum for this time of year.”
This trend is evident in all of B.C.’s health authorities except the Northern Health Authority, Larder said.
Interior Health has also seen four weeks of increasing rates of prescriptions for Tamiflu, the vaccine used for the seasonal flu.
“Last week, the prescription rate increased by 50 per cent,” Larder said.
“The steepest rise has been in the East Kootenays.”
He also said 11 schools in Interior Health’s jurisdiction have reported flu-related absentee rates of more than 10 per cent.
Juleen McElgunn, superintendent for School District 53, said Osoyoos’s schools have not had absentee rates higher than 10 per cent.
While neither the Osoyoos Seniors Centre, which is serving as a seasonal flu vaccine clinic, nor any of Osoyoos’s medical clinics or pharmacies have received word about when H1N1 vaccine clinics will begin here, people are being encouraged to call their doctor or visit websites such as www.interiorhealth.ca and www.immunizebc.ca to find out where and when they can receive the vaccine locally.
People can also call HealthLink BC by dialing 811, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
PHARMACISTS COULD HELP ADMINISTER THE VACCINE
The B.C. Health Services Ministry announced on Oct. 21 that pharmacists who have completed training provided by the BC Pharmacy Association will be able to assist in administering seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines.
So far, one pharmacist at each of Osoyoos’s two commercial pharmacies, Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmasave, are accredited to administer the vaccines.
Larder said the H1N1 vaccine may be delivered at existing flu shot clinics or at new clinics set up by Interior Health and it is expected that as many as 700,000 shots will be administered before Christmas.
The vaccine takes between two to three weeks to provide immunization, he added.
As for what people can expect if they get the H1N1 vaccine, Larder said people may experience soreness around the injection area, some tenderness in the lymph nodes in the armpits or some short-lived fevers and aches and pains.
He said there are no anticipated long-term effects from the vaccine.
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