First doses arrive, command centers set up to combat H1N1

PORTLAND, Ore. – The first doses of the H1N1 vaccine rolled into the Northwest Monday, but it’s not available just yet.

The nasal spray version will be in some clinics this week, but it’s not recommended for pregnant women because it contains a live, but weakened, virus.

Additionally, to fight the H1N1 Swine Flu, local counties are activating command centers around the state, one of them is downtown Portland. Health care workers specially trained in planning, surveillance, and logistics monitor every new case of H1N1 and every hospitalization.

This week about 6,700 doses of the mist version arrived, not nearly enough for the 800,000 people in Multnomah County. So command center workers will decide how to distribute the vaccine as it gradually arrives.

“If you are a clinic that sees mostly children, then you would get a larger allotment,” said Joy Belcourt, an incident commander.

The staff members at the Portland command center were pulled away from their regular health care jobs to focus entirely on the H1N1 flu. They are tasked to make sure area health clinics get all their supplies, coordinate times for free flu shots, make sure those most at risk get the vaccine first, and to encourage a sometimes skeptical public to get vaccinated.

“If we can prevent it first, we’re going to go much farther than if we try to treat,” said Belcourt.

In addition to nearly every county setting up a command center, the state also activated one on Monday.

Babies under the age of six months can’t get the vaccine so parents and siblings are being encouraged to be vaccinated along with anyone who cares for a baby.