University Health Center receives 1,000 vaccine doses

Swine flu vaccinations are finally available at the University Health Center after months of delay, allowing the health center to give out free vaccinations yesterday and Wednesday. But this availability might be short-lived, health center officials said.

Although the health center received 1,000 single-dose H1N1 shots last week, health center Director Sacared Bodison said there were very few doses left over from a closed swine flu vaccination clinic last week intended for high-risk groups, and once all 1,000 shots are used, she has "absolutely no idea" when the next batch will arrive.

The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene only gives her "48-hours notice before vaccinations arrive at the university," she added.

The health department originally told health center officials they would receive the new H1N1 vaccinations by mid-October but but then delayed the delivery for weeks.

"I didn't even ask for the 500 [multi-dose] vaccinations that came," Bodison said. "I just kept bothering them, and they sent them to me."

Multi-dose shots require health-care workers to extract the swine flu vaccination from vials that can be used for 10 patients, whereas single-dose inoculations are pre-wrapped syringes that already contain the vaccination.

Earlier this month, the health center received 500 multi-dose swine flu inoculations, which Gail Lee, the health center's Clinical Director, said was used for those in high-risk categories, including "health center staff, students taking immunosuppressants, chemotherapy-type medicines, students on ventilators or students who have had a significant number of hospitalizations due to asthma."

The rest of the university population, Bodison said, will be given single-dose inoculations instead.

Although single- and multi-dose vaccinations are identical in strength and effectiveness, health center staff would not physically have been able to handle giving multi-dose shots to thousands of individuals at this university, Bodison said.

"I would have had a staff of people with carpal tunnel syndrome," she said. "Nurses here still have sore arms from giving out 5,000 seasonal flu shots so far."

Even after a massive advertising campaign this semester imploring students to practice good health and hygiene and to receive flu shots, students are split over whether the new H1N1 vaccine is necessary.

"I'm not really worried," freshman letters and sciences major Brian Renzi said. "I've seen people that have gotten it, and they weren't that bad. ... I haven't gotten it this late into the flu season, so I'm not going to panic now, and there's even a possibility that I could have an adverse reaction to [the vaccination]."

Other students see the swine flu vaccination clinics as a chance to get the shot — just in case. About a half-hour before the clinic officially opened, more than 100 people were already waiting in line for their vaccines.

"I've been waiting a while for the health center to announce that they were going to give out swine flu vaccinations," senior art studio and psychology major Becky Turek said. "I usually get the seasonal flu vaccination, so I'll get this one too."

In other state institutions, more students have been vaccinated because the shots have been available for longer.

At Towson University, Student Health Services Director Jane Halpern said although single-dose swine flu vaccinations were at least a month late, she received 3,000 multi-dose shots by Oct. 16, a month before this university received any swine flu vaccinations.

"When we put the our [swine flu vaccination] order in, we initially put it in as a single-dose syringes because we anticipated handling hundreds or possibly even thousands of people, and it's a lot quicker and easier to vaccinate people with single-dose syringes," Halpern said. "Then I contacted the [state health department] after learning the single-dose vaccinations might take longer to manufacture and asked if they would send me whichever vaccination type was manufactured first, but they said they wouldn't."

Halpern said she decided to "hedge her bet" on multi-dose inoculations being produced first, so she ordered 3,000 multi-dose shots, which she acknowledged– compared to single-dose shots–are "more time consuming and require double the staff to administer."

Bodison said a similar plan at this university just wouldn't have been feasible.

"We have thousands more people than Towson," Bodison said.

Halpern also noted single-dose shots are preferable in case of emergencies.

"In a mass-vaccination situation, single-dose syringes are better," Halpern said. "Though something is better than nothing."

botelho at umdbk dot com