Font ResizeBefore Thursday's announcement, the health bureau had only been distributing its supply of the vaccine to students in the York City School District.
But, bureau medical director Dr. David Hawk said, health officials felt they could not ignore the other priority groups defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
"Truthfully, I don't know how to prioritize a third-grader who's considered healthy and a woman who's pregnant," Hawk said. "Who's at risk? They're both at risk and they're at equal risk. We need to get it out to both of them.
"How do you say a third-grader is more important than a 3-year-old or, furthermore, a 3-year-old with asthma? . . . As long as we have vaccine and we can get it out to the people who need it, we feel this is the direction to go."
The health bureau has received weekly shipments of the vaccine from the state Department of Health, Hawk said. Right now, it doesn't have enough doses to guarantee everyone in the priority groups that wants the vaccine will get it immediately, Hawk said, but they are
If not, some schools scheduled for vaccinations later this month could be delayed, he said. So could the appointments of people in the priority groups.
Only city residents are eligible to receive vaccinations from the city health bureau, Hawk said.
"Our supply of the vaccine is based on our city population of 40,000 people," Hawk said. "It's not based on 400,000 people. We need to be sure the city population gets the benefit of the vaccine."
The York/Adams Metropolitan Medical Response System is handling vaccinations elsewhere for the two counties. It has focused on offering the vaccine in schools because 75 percent of H1N1 cases in the state have been in kids between ages 5 and 24, said Kevin Alvarnaz, the H1N1 vaccine coordinator for YAMMRS.
Parents of about 50 percent of students in the Northern York County School District chose to have their children vaccinated this week, Alvarnaz said. Other districts will follow, as chosen from a random drawing.
If YAMMRS receives an increased vaccine supply from the state, Alvarnaz said, it might open community clinics. Otherwise, it will wait until the vaccine has been offered to every school district.
"We would need to have enough vaccine on hand to open a community-based clinic," Alvarnaz said. "If we don't have enough, we'd have to turn some people away and we don't want to do that."
GETTING THE VACCINE
Those high-risk York residents who would like to receive the H1N1 vaccine should contact the York City Bureau of Health at 815-0910 to schedule an appointment.
Due to the supply of the vaccine and the number of nurses working, the appointment will likely be days or weeks in the future, said Dr. David Hawk, the bureau's medical director. If you get the answering machine when you call, leave a detailed message and someone will get back to you to schedule an appointment.
ACROSS YORK & ADAMS
The York/Adams Metropolitan Medical Response System has updated the list of school districts that will receive the H1N1 vaccine.
Students in the Northern York County School District whose parents have asked that their children be vaccinated are receiving the vaccine this week. Here is the current remaining schedule:
