University Health Services has postponed a Nov. 3 H1N1 vaccination clinic due to vaccine shortages throughout the entire state of Wisconsin.
Stephanie Marquis, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said the state has received only 300,000 doses of the 407,000 promised by the Center for Disease Control. As a result DHS has narrowed priority groups even further from those recommended by the CDC.
Currently pregnant women, health-care workers, people who care for infants less than six months, and kids six months to four years will receive the vaccine first.
According to Marquis, most health-care workers in the state have already been vaccinated so they can remain healthy and continue to see patients.
Although the CDC has also named six- to 24-year-olds a priority group, DHS has asked healthy people over 18 who do not have underlying medical conditions such as respiratory and cardiovascular problems to be patient.
""We all want the vaccine as quickly as we can,"" Marquis said. ""The reason these individuals are targeted is because they could really become very seriously ill if they receive the virus.""
Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services, said in a press release Wednesday UHS expects to receive more doses of the vaccine and will let students know as it becomes available. Currently UHS is only providing H1N1 vaccinations to people in designated high-priority groups.
Mae Knowles, spokesperson for Meriter Medical Clinic-McKee, said the clinic would follow DHS recommendations when administering the vaccine. In the meantime, she said priority and non-priority groups can take simple precautions to stay healthy.
According to Knowles, people should wash their hands, not share straws and drinking cups, avoid people with flu-like symptoms and cover a cough with a sleeve.
Knowles said that most people who contract the flu will be fine if they follow self-treatment guidelines, such as drinking fluids, getting rest and taking fever-reducing medications.
However, she stressed that patients who experience shortness of breath, pain or pressure in the chest, sudden dizziness, severe vomiting or who get better and then get worse should immediately seek emergency care.
