BAPMG News

Flu Update - November 2009

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 17:41

H1N1 activity has remained high in the San Mateo County Area.  We have had several hundred suspected cases over the past month at Bay Area Pediatrics.  Fortunately the cases with which we have dealt have been relatively mild and short in duration.  We have had no serious cases as yet. 

We are continuing the vaccination program and expect the process to be ongoing for several months.  Up until this week we have only been supplied with the Nasal Mist formulation for healthy children in the two through nine year age group.  Early this week we received the first small shipments of injectable H1N1 vaccine.   For infants under 36 months of age we have received preservative free vaccine and for children older than 36 months of age we have preservative containing vaccine.   The Centers for Disease Control has determined that preservative containing vaccine is safe to use for ages 6 months and older.

We will continue to call patients from our waiting lists to receive vaccine.  Our staff has been working overtime to expand our flu vaccine clinic availability.  We will also continue to offer vaccine when appropriate and available during routine well child checks.  We are hopeful that shipments will accelerate.  We remain confident that the deployment strategies that we have in place will allow us to vaccinate the largest amount of patients in the shortest period of time.

We are aware that many of you are stressed and worried about your children and concerned that they may become sick before they can be vaccinated.  We ask your continued patience with scheduling process and your understanding that we are taking the best interests of our entire patient base as we deploy the vaccine preparations as we receive them.  If you have already put your child’s name on our list, please refrain from calling regarding their status on the list.   Our staff is having a difficult time attending to the needs of parents with sick children who need advice or appointments because they are handling hundreds of extra calls regarding flu vaccine and the waiting list. 

Seasonal Flu Vaccine Update – Our supply of vaccine for the seasonal influenza vaccine is also limited at this time.  We expect to get more over this next month or so and will be able to offer this vaccine more readily soon. There is no problem giving both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines at the same visit. The only restriction is that we can’t give both in the nasal spray formulation at the same visit. Fortunately, we usually see seasonal influenza infections increasing in the January – February time frame.