SWINE FLU VACCINE To Arrive in IL - Mid-October!
STATE OF IL TO RECEIVE 1.5MM DOSES, CHICAGO 500,000 DOSES OF H1-N1 VACCINE INITIALLY!
Currently, more than one-half of the counties across Illinois have reported confirmed cases of the H1-N1 Flu - the influenza previously referred to as the Swine Flu. To battle a projected widespread outbreak of the potentially-deadly flu this fall, State of Illinois Department of Public Health officials announced the delivery of roughly 2,000,000 doses of the specialized vaccine by the middle of October.
According to Chicago Tribune Reporter William Mullen, the first shipment of the H1-N1 Vaccine will include 1,500,000 doses to 2,783 health providers outside of the City of Chicago. Chicago itself will receive 500,000 does, through 1,045 in-city health care providers and clinics.
Initial vaccine shipments will be administered only to those at highest risk - pregnant women, parents or guardians of children younger than six months, those age 24 and younger, health-care professionals and staff, and those between the ages of 25 and 64 with serious health problems.
According to Melaney Arnold of the IL Department of Public Health, everyone else could get H1-N1 Flu Shots after those in the highest-risk categories have the opportunity to be immunized. No specific time schedule for wider vaccine deployment has been set yet.
Across IL, more than 400 state residents have been hospitalized for the H1-N1 Flue - 17 have died after contracting the illness.
Four pharmaceutical providers plan to manufacture and ship at least 20 Million Doses of the new flu virus each week, nationwide, for as long as necessary to control the disease. Each estimated weekly shipment would contain about 200,000 for City of Chicago Residents, plus 600,000 doses weekly for downstate residents.
Here's a link to the Illinois Department of Public Health website discussing the H1-N1 Flu, and state plans to control it.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
