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Nov 13, 2009 7:54 pm US/Central
H1N1 Vaccine Given At 6 Mpls. Day Cares
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Grade school children will start getting shots next Thursday and Friday in Minneapolis. For the children enrolled at the southeast Minneapolis Kindercare and their parents, the wait for the H1N1 vaccine is over. (File)
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More at-risk people are getting H1N1 flu shots, but the supply is still very limited. Minneapolis started H1N1 vaccination clinics on Friday for children in selected day care centers. A total of six day care centers will serve children from 78 other sites.
Grade school children will start getting shots next Thursday and Friday in Minneapolis. For the children enrolled at the southeast Minneapolis Kindercare and their parents, the wait for the H1N1 vaccine is over.
"It's been impossible to try to find. There's news every day that, 'It's coming out, it's coming out,' but nobody ever knows where it's going to be," said parent Michelle Mehle. "So it was nice to finally get it."
The Minneapolis day care children are part of what was supposed to be a push to get about 100,000 Minnesota children protected against H1N1, but those plans were turned upside-down when Thursday the CDC said Minnesota would be getting far fewer doses than expected. Instead of 23,000 doses, the state will receive just 4,500 in the next shipment.
"Fifteen counties right now including Ramsey County and the county of Hennepin that are sort of hanging in the balance, waiting to see if we will get vaccine from CDC," explained Kris Ehresmann, Director of Infectious Disease for the Minnesota Health Department.
The Minneapolis Public Health Department received its vaccine doses before the CDC pulled back, so clinics scheduled for day cares and schools in the city will go on as planned next week.
But now, other county public health agencies and health care providers are scrambling. Counties and clinics are receiving doses by lottery and it's up to each agency to decide how to distribute them, which is why it's been confusing for the general public. All of the clinics are still limited to targeted high-risk groups.
"They're not really intended as a 'come one, come all' kind of situation and I think that gets confusing for the public because they think, 'There's a clinic that's available but how do I know how to get there,'" said Ehresmann.
Minnesota has passed the peak of the H1N1 flu recently. However, the Minnesota Health Department is still urging people to get vaccinated against H1N1 when more doses are available, since another wave of the illness is expected this winter.
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