The Department of Public Health for Madison & Dane County and local health-care organization representatives spoke Monday about the H1N1 vaccine shortage in the Madison and Dane County area.
""Because of scarcity of vaccines we have to pursue a more focused list of high-risk individuals in our society and target them,"" said Thomas Schlenker, Director of Public Health Madison & Dane County.
The H1N1 vaccine priority group has been cut from 200,000 to 50,000 persons.
For now, most UW-Madison students are no longer eligible for the vaccine.
Two weeks ago all persons six months to 24 years could receive the vaccine.
This is now limited to persons 5 to 18 years of age who have medical conditions that put them at a higher risk of influenza-related complications and all children six months to four years.
The list continues to include pregnant women, persons who live with or provide care for infants age six months or younger, and health-care and emergency medical services personnel who have direct contact with patients.
According to Schlenker, UW-Madison students should be fine waiting for the H1N1 vaccine since there was already a large outbreak on campus with low numbers of students falling seriously ill.
The shortage is a surprise. Two weeks ago confidence in an abundance of vaccines was high according to Schlenker. However, manufacturers of the vaccine are currently getting 30 to 40 percent of the yield they were planning on, Schlenker said.
Public Health Madison and Dane County and health-care organization representatives stressed that the H1N1 influenza is really no different than the seasonal flu.
""People need to recognize that the two are similar and we know how to get through this,"" Schlenker said. ""It's for the smaller group of people that can have serious results that we are most concerned about and that's why we are putting so much into vaccine strategy.""
Community members are asked to help by refraining from calling health-care facilities and refraining from going to hospitals. They are encouraged to use websites and hotlines as resources, such as 211-HELP, said Brenda Klahn of Dean Health Clinics, speaking for local health-care providers in the area.
""It is essential we all work together, all the health-care entities and public health officials, and share this load and each do our part the best we can but in collaboration and cooperation with each other,"" Schlenker said.
