By Don Finley
The San Antonio Express-News
SEGUIN, Texas — In Seguin last week, state health officials took 3,000 doses of swine flu vaccine to the Knights of Columbus Hall and invited anyone in Guadalupe County falling into one of the priority groups to get a free shot.
When it was over, 2,241 doses were left over.
It wasn’t a fluke. Unlike in many other parts of Texas, state health officials have been holding public swine flu vaccine clinics in about 25 counties surrounding Bexar, most with similar low turnouts.
At a Maverick County event, 1,703 of 4,600 doses were given. In Karnes, it was less than half of 1,000 on hand. The number of doses available at each event was calculated according to population and other factors.
“We think that now we’re into the time of year when this is not one of their top priorities,” said Dr. Sandra Guerra, regional medical director of the Texas Department of State Health Services. “They have other stuff going on they’re trying to tend to. And the fact that there has not been a continued increase in the number of cases and the number of deaths, they are starting to believe that the worst is behind them.”
Despite early demand marked by frantic phone calls to health departments and doctors, some swine flu vaccine is going unused. Among the reasons: confusion over who should be vaccinated and a belief that the worst of the outbreak is over. Some people remain worried about the safety of the vaccine despite new reassurances last week from the federal government.
“I think we’re still in a period where we’re changing gears from a time when there was not enough vaccine to a time where vaccine is increasingly available,” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Friday. “We can’t predict what the flu will be like. We also can’t predict what demand for vaccine will be like. When there’s more disease around, people want to get vaccinated more. When there’s less vaccine, people want to get vaccinated more.”
In some communities, Frieden said, doctors have begun giving swine flu shots to those who aren’t in priority groups - a practice allowed under federal recommendations if vaccine is left over.
State and local officials say they’re not at that point yet. In Bexar County, most of the Metropolitan Health District’s supply in recent weeks has gone to support school-based clinics.
“Fortunately for us during last week and so far this week, all of our vaccine supplied to the (school districts) is being used. Demand is actually higher than supply,” said Dr. Bryan Alsip, assistant director of the health district.
Alsip - who said he has heard unofficial reports of weak demand from some local providers - noted that no one knows whether private doctors and clinics, who have received 80 percent of the Texas vaccine shipments, have in fact injected most of it into patients.
“We’re trying to let them know that come the holidays, when people are going to spend the time together as families, coming together from all different parts of the country or the world, we anticipate we’re going to have more people share the virus with each other, and we’re potentially going to have another wave of this going through our community,” Guerra said.
Copyright 2009 San Antonio Express-News
All Rights Reserved