Archive for Swine influenza
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While much has been written about the H1N1 “swine flu”, we think some concise information is worth providing.
Flu activity is widespread- it has essentially affected residents of every state. The H1N1 strain of flu virus is turning out to be the perfect storm of illnesses because for certain high-risk groups of people it can be fatal, many are not taking it seriously, there are serious shortages of vaccine and government at all levels is not doing an effective job of managing distribution of the limited amounts of vaccine that are available.
As of the end of last month, there have been about 3,000 laboratory-documented cases of H1N1 in Connecticut, but since most people with flu symptoms don’t seek medical care, we suspect the number of cases is much higher. About 350 of those cases included hospitalization. On the vaccine availability end of things, as recently as the end of last month, Connecticut was receiving only about 25% of the doses it ordered.
National vaccine allocations are done based on population distribution by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) – the states with greater populations will receive larger numbers of doses. But nationally, all dose shipments are falling far short of needs.
Naturally, our Federal Government is pointing fingers at itself, saying that its performance is unsatisfactory and that the entire supply chain needs to be overhauled before the next breakout. Well, thanks for that helpful information, is all we can say. We’ll be sure to file it in the same folder we keep our New Orleans / Hurricane Katrina archives in.