Area health providers prepare for flu season

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — With flu season around the corner, Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital's College Clinic is still waiting on the State Health Department for its share of vaccines for children between 36 and 59 months old. It began administering vaccines for children between 6 and 35 months Wednesday.

In the meantime, hospital staff is preparing to join other local health care providers in the county for a free mass immunization drill set for a week from today.

Local clinics have been administering adult flu vaccines for the past few weeks. But unlike those doses, RMCH pharmacist Arthur Macias said, which the hospital rounds up on its own from the manufacturers, the children's vaccines come courtesy of the state's Vaccines for Children Program; however, it's yet to ship out the shots for children between 36 and 59 months, and Macias doesn't know how much longer it will take.

The state can't simply send out the same vaccine each year or use leftovers from years past. Because the flu strains most prevalent each season change from year to year, Macias said, the manufacturers have to predict exactly which strains will prevail and design the year's vaccine accordingly.

The College Clinic, at the corner of Boardman and College Drives, will be administering the free children's vaccines from 8 a.m. until noon and 1 in the afternoon until 5 p.m. every weekday. The hospital recommends that parents make appointments.

The Health Department says it's ordered a total of 198,000 doses of this year's vaccine, 70,000 more than last. As of October 4, it started shipping out the first 10,000 doses of the adult vaccines and has received its first 7,000 doses for children.

"For the past two years, we have increased our flu shot order to make sure we can protect people who are most vulnerable from flu complications," New Mexico Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham said according to a Health Department new release.

Manufacturers typically release the vaccines in a number of batches throughout the flu season, and they haven't yet told the Health Department when to expect the next shipment.

The Health Department is recommending vaccination for high risk populations: residents of long-term care facilities; pregnant women; health care workers involved in direct patient care; children from 6 months to five years old, people 50 and over; and anyone between 2 and 64 with chronic health conditions.

But there hasn't been any state or federally mandated rationing yet, Macias said, and he does not anticipate any shortages. Anyone who wants a shot, he said, should be able to get one.

For those who haven't yet, they'll have a good chance during a countywide immunization drill Nov. 9. Local health care providers, including RMCH and the Gallup Indian Medical Center, will be joining forces to provide free flu vaccinations throughout the county that morning.

"What we're doing is a drill to find out how well we'll be able to handle an emergency situation," Macias said.

Sites will include Gallup High School, the Gallup Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Red Rock Elementary School, the Tohatchi Health Center, and Crownpoint High School. Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.