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Osceola County Health Department officials are gearing up to open a vaccine clinic in December and administer the H1N1 swine flu vaccine to residents.
The department will begin to receive doses of the swine flu vaccine to administer to the general public by December and will then hold the vaccination clinic, where eligible residents will be able to receive a free dose of the shot, department spokeswoman Camille Bissainthe said.
To date, most supplies of the vaccine have been shipped directly to local clinics, pediatricians, obstetricians and other healthcare providers who have been administering the vaccine to medical priority groups.
One of the reasons for that, Bissainthe said, is because providers are able to get the vaccine to priority patients quickly. The public sector is still receiving limited quantities of the vaccine as well, she said.
“It’s trickling in,” Bissainthe said. “As the weeks go by, we should start getting an increase in the amount of vaccines.”
On Oct. 23, President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency. According to the Centers for Disease Control, since last week 503,200 doses of the vaccine have been shipped to Florida.
The CDC is recommending the vaccine for priority groups, who can verify with their health providers and receive the shot before it’s given out by the public sector.
