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Flu shots go 1st to nursing homes

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@thecitizennews.com

Local public health officials are working to administer flu vaccinations to residents of Fayette’s nursing homes because they are at high risk of developing complications from the virus, officials said Monday.

Meanwhile, residents who call the Fayette County Health Department inquiring about the availability of flu vaccines are being put on a waiting list, said Cynthia Grant, county nurse manager.

Should more flu vaccine become available, persons on the waiting list will be contacted to “come on in and get their vaccine,” Grant said.

“That’s the only thing we can do,” she added.

The decision to vaccinate local nursing home residents first is largely due to their susceptibility should they contract the flu virus, Grant said. Also, they are at greater risk of contracting the virus because they are in an enclosed space that is often visited by members of the public, Grant noted.

“Anyone with a weakened immune system could wind up with severe consequences from flu,” Grant said. “Say, for example, someone with a chronic lung problem on oxygen. The flu would really complicate that.”

Elizabeth Fitch, risk communicator for District IV Public Health, said Medical Director Michael Brackett thought “it was the best medical practice” to prioritize the vaccine for nursing home patients.

“Their bodies just can’t fight the infection,” Fitch said, adding that contracting a strain of pneumonia is a complication of the flu that can endanger elderly patients. A one-time vaccination for that pneumonia is available at the Fayette County Health Department (See accompanying story—"Pneumonia shots urged for elderly")

Across the country, officials are grappling with the distribution of flu vaccines after one private company’s product was taken off the market. In a normal year, the local health department has plenty of flu shots to go around for everyone, Grant said.

In the past, officials had a four-day-long event where the county’s seven nurses dole out nothing but flu vaccines, Grant said.

The county health department is getting over a hundred calls a day requesting the vaccine, indicating that some are starting to worry about its availability, Grant said.

So far, residents in five of the county’s nursing homes have been vaccinated with another two nursing homes to go, Grant said.

“Hopefully we’ll get those this week,” Grant said, noting that the health department was waiting on information from the nursing homes for the right time to come by and vaccinate the patients.

In addition to vaccinating nursing home residents, participants in the Fayette Senior Services day program are also being vaccinated because they are together in an enclosed space for several hours a day, Grant noted.