Third H1N1 clinic includes older children

The turnout remained almost the same Thursday with the third H1N1 vaccination clinic hosted by the county, but this time there were a few older faces in the crowd.

That's because the vaccination clinic Thursday, sponsored by the Yuma County Public Health District, was open to all children up to 18 years old. At the clinic, health care workers offered a combined 2,500 of the two different types of H1N1 vaccine.

County officials announced last week that the clinic Thursday would include an expanded Tier 1 risk group, which is currently the only group receiving the vaccination through the county.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, county health care workers had vaccinated 1,600 people, said Maria Nunez, acting public health district director.

In a letter to state and local health officers Thursday, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Thomas R. Frieden stressed the importance of continuing to restrict the vaccine to those who are at the highest risk.

"The goal of the H1N1 vaccination program is to protect our population - focusing first on these high-risk groups and ensuring equitable access to the vaccine," Frieden wrote. "While vaccine supplies are still limited, any vaccine distribution decisions that appear to direct vaccine to people outside the identified priority groups have the potential to undermine the credibility of the program."

Frieden wrote that the CDC has 35.6 million doses of the vaccine allocated for ordering, with more coming every day. The vaccines are sent to the state, and in Arizona, the doses are distributed throughout the 15 counties in the state based on population. Yuma County makes up about 3 percent of the population in the state.

County health officials have no control over how much of the vaccine is sent to Yuma County.

Greg Stewart, of Yuma, brought his two sons to the clinic Thursday. He and his wife did a lot of research to determine that their two children, Chase, 13, and Dylan, 16, should get one.

Stewart said one reason they decided to get their children vaccinated is because the virus is easily transmitted between children. He said news that the virus affects children more seriously was one of their biggest concerns.

Though the boys haven't gotten their seasonal flu shots yet this year, Stewart said they typically do every year.

Yuman Missy Rensel brought her son Luke, 9,  to the clinic Thursday because she'd heard that children are in the most danger when it comes to H1N1, and she wanted to get him vaccinated.

Rensel said she also liked that that the county was offering the vaccination for free.

"I thought it was great (and) the right thing to do," Rensel said.

Like other parents Rensel said just because a child is healthy doesn't mean they can't get the flu.

"The ones that are healthy can still get it," she said.

County officials have not yet released information regarding any future vaccination clinics and who might be included in possible future clinics.

For more information about either the seasonal flu or the H1N1 virus, call the county 2009 H1N1 phone line at (928) 373-1025.

For more information about the flu, visit www.flu.gov.

Stephanie A. Wilken can be reached at swilken@yumasun.com or 539-6857.