Influenza Vaccine

Updated October 10, 2009

This year there are two different vaccines for influenza. As in all previous years, there is a vaccine directed against strains of the influenza virus (Influenza A or B) that are likely to cause the seasonal influenza outbreak that we typically experience between December and April. In addition, there is a newly developed vaccine against the novel H1N1 (swine) flu strain that became prevalent this past spring.

Seasonal influenza vaccine:

The seasonal influenza vaccine is available in our office. However, please note that some supply shortages may occur, because the U.S. government has ordered that production and shipment of seasonal flu vaccine be temporarily stopped to allow for distribution of the H1N1 vaccine.

Patients can be vaccinated if they are in for regularly scheduled visits in our office (e.g., well physicals). We also are scheduling "flu clinic" days in which patients can come specifically for the flu vaccine. Please contact our office if you wish to schedule a flu clinic visit.

PLEASE NOTE: the seasonal flu usually does not begin circulating before December, and peak season is typically between January and March. So, any appointment between now and early December will likely be early enough to provide excellent protection for this coming winter.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend seasonal influenza vaccination for all children 6 months to 18 years of age. Per the CDC, all children in this age group are considered high risk. Among these children, however, it is reasonable to ascribe the highest risk to children who:

(1) Have a chronic medical illness which puts them at increased risk for developing complications of influenza infection. Some examples of such illnesses include cystic fibrosis, cancer, diabetes mellitus, asthma, chronic lung disease of prematurity, and congenital heart disease.

(2) Are between 6 months and 5 years of age. Children younger than age 5 are more likely than older children to be hospitalized with complications of influenza, though these complications tend to be minor (e.g., brief hospitalizations for dehydration or mild pneumonia). Note that the vaccine is not approved for children younger than 6 months of age.

(3) Are household contacts of infants younger than 6 months of age or of other high-risk individuals who cannot themselves be vaccinated (for instance, individuals with a history of allergy to the flu vaccine).

Please understand that we cannot vaccinate parents or other household members. We reserve our vaccine supply for our patients only.

H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine:

The CDC recommends H1N1 vaccine for all young people 6 months to 24 years of age.

We received our first shipment of H1N1 vaccine on October 5. We received only a small number of doses, enough to vaccinate only about 2% of all of our patients. We have been assured by the state Department of Public Health that further shipments will arrive on a regular basis, and that the size of the shipments is likely to increase. However, we have no specific information about when these shipments will arrive or how much vaccine will be provided. We will do our best to provide open and accurate information as the situation evolves.

The State has set guidelines about how the vaccine should be administered. To date, we have only received the nasal (live virus) form of the H1N1 vaccine. This vaccine cannot be given to anyone younger than 2 years of age. Also, the vaccine should not be given to anyone with asthma or with an immunodeficiency, who might develop some respiratory problems or flu symptoms from the vaccine. The State guidelines say that this initial shipment of vaccine can only be given to children younger than 10 years of age. The guidelines do not specify any particular subgroup of patients 2 to 9 years of age who should be considered high-risk. Thus, we plan to give our initial doses to all eligible patients in this age group.

We expect that future shipments from the State will include some injectable (inactivated) vaccine, which will be appropriate for children who are younger than 2 years of age or who are otherwise ineligible to receive the nasal form of the vaccine. We believe that as more vaccine becomes available, the guidelines will likely be revised to allow administration to children older than 10 years of age.

Please note that children in school will likely have an opportunity to receive the H1N1 vaccine at school. You should receive notification directly from your school. We encourage you to have your child vaccinated at school, if possible. The schools may have more vaccine than we do.

If your child has a flu clinic visit or regular doctor visit scheduled with us, if s/he is eligible to receive the H1N1 nasal vaccine, and if we have supply available, we will provide the H1N1 vaccine. Please understand that with only enough vaccine now for 2% of our patients, the large majority of patients who want the vaccine will need to wait.

Vaccine Supply and Flu Clinic Visits:

If you call to schedule a flu clinic visit, you may be given an appointment, or you may be added to our waiting list. We are trying to schedule flu clinic appointments only when we are certain that we will have adequate supplies of vaccine to offer at those appointments. Please understand that the supply limitations we have are being experienced by all primary care practices and are not in our control. We will do our best to provide the flu vaccine to all patients who want it over the next couple of months.