Free H1N1 clinics to start next week

The state’s first series of free public clinics offering the H1N1 swine flu vaccine will begin next week, but a five-hour event at the Manchester Health Department on Tuesday will be the closest to Nashua.

The H1N1 vaccine is taken considerably longer to produce that had originally been expected. It is being distributed to states by the federal Centers for Disease Control, based solely on each state’s population.

New Hampshire received approximately 40,000 more doses this week, bringing its total to around 210,000 and making it possible to begin offering the vaccine to the so-called “second tier” of patients, including some young adults and people who care for infants.

Nine free public clinics have been scheduled for next week throughout New Hampshire.

The Manchester Health Department, 1528 Elm St., will have a clinic Tuesday from 4-9 p.m. For information, call 624-6466.

“As soon as we get more vaccine, we will be adding (clinics), said Kris Neilsen spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Service. The state hopes to announce more clinics within the next week, she said.

Other clinics are scheduled in Keene, Plymouth, and the Lakes Region and the Seacoast.

The clinics will only have flu shots for H1N1. Vaccines for seasonal flu, which has not yet arrived in New Hampshire, are in short supply at the moment.

Medical officials continue to urge people to wash their hands frequently and cover their coughs to limit spread of the virus carrying the disease.

Medical officials are even urging families to change practices of family gatherings at Thanksgiving – for example, limiting kissing and hugs with family members who might be feeling under weather, just in case they are in the process of coming down with the flu.

Those eligible for the free H1N1 shots:

•People caring for or living with infants younger than 6 months old, including partners of pregnant women. No H1N1 vaccine has been licensed for children younger than 6 months of age, so vaccinating such people helps protect these infants.

•All children 6 months to 4 years old, even if they have no other medical conditions. Children with conditions like asthma have already been eligible for the shots.

•People age 18-24 with underlying medical conditions that make H1N1 more dangerous, including asthma and immune-deficiency disorders.

The “first tier” of people eligible for shots include some health care workers, at-risk children younger than 5 and pregnant women.

H1N1 is the only type of flu to have been found by tests of random patients in New Hampshire.

So far, three people are known to have died in New Hampshire who had H1N1, including a Pelham elementary school student.

Nationwide, H1N1 has killed approximately 4,000 people in the U.S., including about 540 children, since it first showed up in the spring. An estimated 100,000 people have been hospitalized in the country during that period.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-5831 or dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com.