The Sumner County Health Department is preparing for another round of H1N1 vaccinations. Starting Monday the health department will begin giving the vaccine to the current swine flu priority groups.
Those groups are people who live with or care for children younger than six months of age, pregnant women, health care workers, children six months through four years, also children and adolescents ages five through eighteen. In the latter category, priority will be to whose with underlying medical aliments.
Health care workers should already be informed with instructions from their employer concerning the H1N1 vaccinations. If not, health care workers need to check with their employer before coming to the health department. If their name is not on the list as an employee for a health care provider in Sumner County, they may be turned away. Sumner County Health Department has already been in talks with different health care agencies in the county.
"Health Care Worker is a broad category," said Laura Rettig, Sumner County Health Department director. "We've already called as to how we define health care workers and emergency responders, we've defined that and contacted them all."
The health department received a lot of calls about the swine flue vaccine the week before last, but not as many last week. The community is advised to call the health department to check the availability of the H1N1 vaccine before making the trip. To help be more schedule-friendly the Sumner County Health Department will remain open late.
Their hours starting on Monday will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday with and exception on Holidays.
The vaccine will be given to residents of Sumner county first over out-of-county residents because of allocation levels. After this round of priority groups is taken care of, a new array of groups will be eligible to receive the vaccine. The group will be people up to 24 years old and then people 25 to 64.
It is unclear how long this batch of the vaccine will last. Rettig speculates that the health department will be able to order large quantities within the next two to three weeks.
For further information, contact the Sumner County Health Department at 326-2774.
Wellington, Kan. —
