Politics & Government
Final Swine Flu Clinic Set; 5,000 Locally Have Been Vaccinated Since October
Appointments will be required after this clinic.
The Madison Department of Health will hold its final H1N1 clinic for the general public at its Walnut Street headquarters on Thursday.
Over 5,000 local residents have been vaccinated since last October for H1N1, commonly know as "swine flu." After the last scheduled clinic, appointments will be required.
"Most people have been vaccinated," said Flo Rice, the Board of Health's clinic director for vaccinations. "We've been focusing this past week on second doses."
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The department has held nine free clinics in various locations—one of which was the township's municipal building—in the past 11 days. The board is currently administering a second dose of the vaccine in its afterschool program for children nine and under.
It was not until December that the free vaccine was made available by state authorities to the general public. Rice said many people postponed their visits to get the vaccine because of the holiday.
Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"In January, we got senior citizens and healthy people outside the target groups," she said. "That's been our focus the last few weeks."
According to Tamica Trotman, a department registered environmental health specialist, the vaccine can be taken as a nasal spray or an injection. The nasal spray contains a live or active virus and is only given to children and healthy adults, Trotman said. The injection contains an inactive virus and is administered to all others.
Rice said there have been two outbreaks of H1N1 this flu season. The first began in spring 2009 and subsided in the fall, only to return. She said that health authorities can only watch and wait.
"The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta doesn't know yet if it will return," she said. "Perhaps because so many people are immunized, it will not come back and the virus will not take hold. But we will continue giving the vaccine through the flu season, which is the end on March."
The Madison Board of Health Department covers the Chathams, Morris Plains, Victory Gardens and Madison. One can make an appointment by emailing healthservice@rosenet.org.
