Health officials advise vaccinations against both strains
While H1N1 swine flu is declining, the nation’s rate of influenza is higher than normal for this time of year, health officials say.
And we’re still waiting for the annual seasonal flu to hit its stride.
The two strains are making for a double dose of disease while complicating some people’s plans to get flu shots.
“We believe the total number of infections in Washington (so far) probably is as great or greater than an entire flu season,” said Donn Moyer, spokesman for the Washington Department of Health. “And we haven’t gotten started with seasonal flu.”
H1N1 swine flu peaked in late October, Moyer said. Seasonal flu typically ramps up in December, and it can peak in January or February.
Meanwhile, vaccine for seasonal flu is in short supply locally, just as H1N1 vaccine has become more available to the general public.
“There’s a lot less seasonal flu vaccine available now,” said Theresa Cross, with Clark County Public Health.
“It was pushed out earlier, and was available in August and September. The demand went up early and fast, probably related to the whole flu message around H1N1,” the health educator said.
“Some providers still have it,” Cross said, so people who do find seasonal vaccine should take advantage of it.
If there is a bright side to the supply of seasonal vaccine, it’s that a tremendous number of people got flu shots this year, Moyer said. Almost every year, health providers have to dump unused supplies of seasonal flu vaccine.
“Not this year. That means people were vaccinated,” Moyer said. “At the state, we got our full allocation (of seasonal flu vaccine) for children, and its gone.”
Moyer wants to see the same thing happen to H1N1 swine flu vaccine. People shouldn’t shrug it off just because it’s available.
Now is the time “to get ready for what might come,” Moyer said. “Because it’s a new strain, there’s no way to predict if it will come back strong or not at all.
“It’s vital to get vaccinated. Now that it is more widely available, people who are not in high-risk groups can get protected. Then they won’t expose someone in a high-risk group who didn’t get the vaccine.”
H1N1 vaccine is now available at medical offices, clinics and pharmacies throughout Southwest Washington. Although anyone can receive the vaccine, people in priority groups are particularly encouraged to get vaccinated, county health officials said.
In the weekly update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday, the national flu rate was categorized as “widespread” in 14 states. That’s down from 25 states the previous week.
Flu activity in Washington, Oregon and Idaho was categorized as regional, a notch below widespread.
The national statistics are an indictor of overall flu activity, but about 98 percent of lab-confirmed cases last week were H1N1 swine flu, CDC officials said.
Tom Vogt: 360-735-4558 or tom.vogt@columbian.com.
