Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Pandemic...?

Two long lines of people extend out the doors of St. Luke's Community Health Education Center, waiting for their turn to be inoculated against the H1N1 virus. The virus, commonly known as the "swine flu", has so far only caused one death in Whatcom County. Still, fear is high and vaccine quantities are minimal, so only a select few were eligible to receive this first batch of the vaccine.

5 comments:

  1. Yes, we had our annual Flu Roundup at the fairgrounds just a week or two ago. Unfortunately they didn't get the H1N1 vaccination in time so weren't able to administer it at the same time. I still need to track down where to get that...

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  2. They had 1200 slots for people who met this criteria: children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, children between the ages of 5 and 18 years who have respiratory diseases or a compromised immune system, and adults who have a compromised immune system due to chemotherapy or advanced HIV. Oh, and pregnant women. Pregnant women and young children definitely seemed to be the majority of those getting the vaccine.

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  3. There's a real shortage up here in New England. Even the seasonal flu shot is in short supply.

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  4. During the winter in Brazil and specially in the state I live in (ParanĂ¡), the fear of this flu was nearly uncontrollable. In August the newspapers reported 39 deaths in ParanĂ¡ and 198 in the whole country. We had no vacine at that time and we still have recipients of alcohol 70% on our tables.

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