Ontario has become the first province to delay seasonal influenza vaccines to most residents because of the threat posed by swine flu.
The decision, announced Thursday, comes as public health officials across the country are reconsidering their immunization plans in light of unpublished Canadian studies that suggest earlier seasonal flu shots raise the risk of contracting the pandemic H1N1 flu virus.
“Is it typical that we adjust our programs?” said Arlene King, Ontario's chief medical officer of health. “No, it isn't typical, but we are not dealing with a typical flu season this year.”
Ontario's program is based on a calculation that swine flu will sicken more people than seasonal influenza this fall and winter. Despite hopes for a pan-Canadian vaccination strategy, the province's approach is different than those in other provinces.
Parents panicked over whether their sick children might have swine flu are unnecessarily clogging Houston's emergency rooms, and supplies of the most popular flu symptom-fighting drug aren't meeting the region's demand, health officials said Thursday.
Waiting rooms at both children's hospitals in the Texas Medical Center are packed at levels typically seen in January, the peak of traditional flu season, officials said. Texas Children's Hospital opened an outdoor assessment center under a tent Wednesday afternoon to handle a 40 percent increase in patients. Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital has had an equivalent increase in flu patients, spokeswoman Jennifer Hart said, and there's been a significant uptick at Memorial Hermann's community hospitals.
Clinicians say the scene is similar to what happened in the spring, when the H1N1, also known as swine flu, broke out in Mexico and was transmitted across the globe. Children and young adults are especially at risk, having the highest rates of hospitalization and deaths.
Meanwhile, federal health officials on Thursday said the first swine flu vaccinations should be available in the coming weeks, though there won't initially be enough for everyone to be treated.
“We are likely to have some initial doses available the first full week in October,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Sebelius said 6 million to 7 million doses will be available in that initial batch. Priority will be given to those considered most vulnerable, including children, pregnant women and health workers.
By mid-October, roughly 40 million doses will be distributed, officials said. And every week thereafter, 10 million to 20 million doses will roll out across America.
The federal government has purchased 250 million vaccines, “enough for everyone in America who wants a vaccine,” Sebelius said.
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