Swine-flu vaccine coming; in S. Fla., kids at head of the line

Fred Tasker

Oct. 6, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- As the first wave of H1N1 flu vaccine makes its way across the country, school-age children in South Florida will be at the head of the line to receive it as long as parents give their consent.

Health officials in Miami-Dade and Broward say their share of the state's first batch of the FluMist nasal spray vaccine is expected next week. It will be small: just 102,000 doses for all of Florida, meted out to Florida's 67 counties by population, according to state Department of Health spokeswoman Susan Smith. It means Miami-Dade should get about 13,000 doses and Broward should get about 10,000 doses.

More doses, including injected vaccine, will come weekly, but it may be a while before all of the state's 18 million residents have a chance to be vaccinated.

"What I need from people is patience," said Lillian Rivera, administrator of the Miami-Dade Health Department. "I understand everybody wants to be first in line. But we're trying to get it to kids who are most at risk."

Vaccinations against swine flu -- what scientists call the 2009 H1N1 strain -- won't gear up in earnest until mid-October, when at least 40 million doses will have rolled out, with more coming each week.

Each county health department will decide how to distribute its share of the vaccine. In Miami-Dade and Broward, the decision was to first vaccinate children, who are particularly susceptible to swine flu.

"It's a matter of where to put it to get a better bang for the buck, and that's definitely with school-age kids," said Rivera.

In Miami-Dade, the county health department will purchase the vaccines with federal funding and ship them to the schools where health teams, already paid for by funding from The Children's Trust, will offer them to students. Eventually all public schoolchildren will have access to the vaccine for free once supplies are in place.

Parents must consent for their children to receive the vaccine, said Emily Cardenas, the trust's senior communications manager.

"It should be a great way to reach many more children than it would have otherwise," Cardenas said.

Miami-Dade Public Schools is still finalizing the exact details of how it will administer the vaccines, said spokesman John Schuster.

Broward's public school system will also offer the vaccine, spokeswoman Nadine Drew, said. Both anticipated releasing their plans in full by week's end.

The first vaccines are entirely in the form of a nasal spray called FluMist, because manufacturers finished making them first. Nasal spray vaccines are appropriate for healthy people between ages 2 and 64; they should not be used by pregnant women or people, including children, with asthma, diabetes or other chronic health conditions, the CDC said. Nor should they be given to young children between 6 months to 2 years of age.

County health officials said later shipments of injected vaccines will be allocated first among other high-risk groups including pregnant women, healthcare workers, people ages 2 to 64 with asthma, diabetes or other chronic health problems, Rivera said.

When more doses arrive, on a weekly basis, the public can get them from private doctors or at private and county-run clinics. Florida is still negotiating to make them available at retail pharmacies and supermarkets, which now are giving regular seasonal flu shots.

The vaccines are part of the U.S. government's $3 billion program to inoculate more than half its population of 305 million against swine flu. The first doses arrived Monday in Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee, where healthcare workers were the first to get the squirts up the noses.

Up to 40 million doses should be available nationwide by mid-October, and officials aim to provide 195 million doses by year's end.

Swine flu is responsible for more than 600 U.S. deaths since the virus was identified in April, according to Anne Schuchat, head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

In Florida, swine flu has caused 102 deaths, including 22 in Miami-Dade and 9 in Broward, according to the state health department.

State deaths include five pregnant women and eight youths between 5 and 24 years of age.

By comparison, the seasonal flu kills about 36,000 people a year nationally.

Miami Herald staff writer Robert Samuels contributed to this report, which was supplemented with Miami Herald wire services.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0123-38566478