The Central District Health Department has announced it is shifting the H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine administration dates from Saturdays to Mondays, beginning November 23^rd – and continuing through December 21^st.

CDHD spokesman Dave Fotsch said, “(We were) able to administer 2,230 doses of vaccine at its last Point of Dispensing (POD) operation on Saturday, November 14^th.  The steady flow of people was an indication of continuing public interest in receiving the H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine.  As a result CDHD will continue to operate a POD at the former Comp USA store at 1195 N Milwaukee Street, Boise, but will shift operations from Saturdays to Mondays.”

Starting next Monday, the POD at the former Comp USA store will operate from 3:00  to 7:00 p.m.  CDHD plans to continue POD operations every Monday through December 21^st.  The H1N1 flu clinics continue to target Priority Groups, those people considered at greatest risk of serious complications of influenza infection.

Priority groups include:

• Pregnant women
• People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age
• Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel
• Persons between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old
• People 25 through 64 years of age with chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems

“We’re hoping that by shifting operations to Mondays we’ll be able to pick up more people who were unable to get vaccinated on Saturdays,”  said Rob Howarth, Incident Commander for the H1N1 flu vaccine operations at CDHD.  “We also recognize that parents of children under 10 years want their kids to get the second dose of vaccine they are due to receive soon.  Monday clinics should provide another option to get this done.”

Meanwhile, the health district is moving forward with school-based vaccination programs in the Mountain Home and Kuna school districts.  Resuming vaccination programs in the Boise and Meridian school districts will depend on vaccine availability.  CDHD still intends to offer school-based H1N1 vaccinations to private and charter schools with more than 50 students, but those plans also depend of the availability of vaccine.

The McCall and Mountain Home offices of CDHD have begun offering appointment-only H1N1 flu clinics.  The McCall office will offer the vaccine to Priority Groups on Friday November 20^th and the Mountain Home office on Saturday November 21^st.  Check the CDHD website (www.cdhd.idaho.gov) for specifics, or call the CDHD Flu Hotline at 321-2222.

To date, the CDHD has administered nearly 20,000 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine through POD operations and school-based vaccination campaigns.  In addition CDHD has sent over 18,000 doses to medical offices, Mountain Home Air Force Base and Boise State University. 

CDHD  is considering a number of other strategies to vaccinate as many individuals within those groups as soon as possible.  CDHD will soon be offering the H1N1 flu vaccine to its existing client base in the Women, Infants and Children program and through Immunizations and Reproductive Health.  CDHD intends to expand the distribution of vaccine to medical offices and is exploring with area pharmacies the possibility of making the vaccine more widely available throughout the four county health district.

The public is invited to make suggestions on future plans for vaccine distribution.  Call the CDHD Flu Hotline between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday to speak with one of the live phone operators.