Font ResizeTheir children receive the seasonal-flu vaccine and, after researching the H1N1 vaccine, the Littlestown couple decided they want their kids to receive it.
There's just one problem.
The Albrights have a 19-month-old and a 4-year-old -- children not yet of school age.
And while school-age children are starting to be vaccinated through their school districts, the vaccine is not yet available to younger children, according to officials with the York/Adams Metropolitan Medical Response System, the group coordinating the bulk of the counties' vaccination efforts.
The Albrights have spent weeks searching for places offering the vaccine but have come up short.
In the U.S., the federal government is paying for the vaccine and rationing supplies to each state. Then state and local health departments decide where it goes next -- from schools to doctors' offices to community health clinics and even to some large companies with health directors.
Locally, most pediatric offices are allowing WellSpan Health and YAMMRS to coordinate the vaccination efforts "rather than encourage children to go to overfilled pediatric practices, where they're managing a lot of sick children now," said Kevin Alvarnaz, H1N1 vaccine coordinator for YAMMRS.
The vaccine is also not yet available to people with serious medical conditions, or those in regular contact with infants 6
Those groups -- along with pregnant women, school-age children and health-care employees, are considered the most vulnerable -- according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So where can other high-risk groups, such as the Albright children, get their vaccines?
At community clinics, which will probably begin after all York and Adams counties' school districts receive vaccines.
Alvarnaz said YAMMRS only recently got enough supply to start its school-based effort. Once it gets a sufficient supply of both shots and the nasal mist, it will look into scheduling community clinics to vaccinate the priority groups.
Alvarnaz's best guess for when those will start? December, "but we cannot say that for sure."
While they wait
For families such as the Albrights, the best way to fend off the H1N1 virus is to maintain good hand hygiene and practice social distancing in public areas, Alvarnaz said.
Washing hands, coughing or sneezing into a tissue or sleeve, and keeping hands away from the face are some of the prevention techniques recommended by the state Department of Health.
Parents should also be on the lookout for symptoms of the flu: fever, cough, fatigue, runny or stuffy nose, headaches or body aches and chills.
The Albrights -- and other parents -- have heard this advice since the H1N1 outbreak began. But until vaccines are available for his children, Matt Albright said he will still be concerned for the health of his young ones.
School-age kids interact with other kids on a daily basis, running the risk of spreading germs, but those same kids could be going home to younger, unvaccinated siblings, he said.
"You worry, especially having such young children," Albright said. "They can't speak for themselves."
Background
Adams County recently had the state's first H1N1-related pediatric death: 5-year-old Kyree Gamble, a kindergartner at Rolling Acres Elementary School in Littlestown Area School District.
Kyree died Oct. 31 at Penn State Hershey Medical Center of complications related to swine flu.
CDC officials said 129 children have died from swine-flu complications since the virus was identified in April. About two-thirds had other health conditions, such as asthma, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy.
Millions of Americans have been infected with the virus, though most have suffered only mild illness, federal health officials have said.
A mother's perspective
Read Day Metro Editor Amy Gulli's view on the delayed vaccines on her blog, Because I'm the Mommy.
