The Clinton County Health Department is taking some heat that it doesn't deserve.
Because Franklin and Essex counties have both scheduled public H1N1 clinics and Clinton County hasn't, rumors are flying that Clinton messed up somehow, that it didn't place its order on time or ordered too few doses.
Clinton County Health Department Director Paula Calkins-Lacombe explained that it is the State Health Department, not the individual counties, that decides how much is being sent to each area. Each county will be given a pro-rated number of vaccinations, based on its population. The state figured out the formula.
The counties had a deadline by which to sign up for H1N1 vaccinations. Clinton County was definitely in on time, Calkins-Lacombe said. Its staff spent a great deal of time helping local doctors' offices sign up and get ranked by which were the largest and had the most need.
Vaccines have been coming to Clinton County — 6,600 doses had been distributed around the county as of Oct. 31, Calkins-Lacombe said. It's just that most of it has gone straight to the providers, such as CVPH Medical Center, pediatricians, obstetricians and other private doctors. Even that amount isn't as much as providers need.
Franklin and Essex counties have fewer providers, so they are holding a few school and public clinics to get their vaccine supply out. Their clinics are drawing big crowds. That will happen in Clinton County too — the problem is "big crowds" has a different meaning in our local counties. The Franklin and Essex counties clinics are drawing hundreds of people; in Clinton County, thousands could flock to a public clinic. Close to 3,000 people were vaccinated in past high-demand years at seasonal-flu clinics at the Plattsburgh State Field House. That many or more could line up for H1N1 shots, so the county needs a big supply before it can hold a clinic. If some people are annoyed now, can you imagine how outraged they would be to stand in line for an hour only to be told the vaccine supply had been exhausted?
Calkins-Lacombe hopes to have enough by the end of November to plan public or school clinics, but it depends on how much arrives and when.
She assures that there is no vaccine landing anywhere in the state "that isn't being maximized" — if there is surplus anywhere, it is redistributed.
The level of anxiety about H1N1 seems to have subsided a little. By now, we all know some child or young adult who has been sick with the flu. H1N1 is the only flu identified in New York, so if you had the fever, chills, respiratory effects, etc., you had swine flu. Most everyone has been affected much as they would by seasonal flu — and then has recovered. That is reassuring.
As people start to feel a little less panicked about swine flu, we hope their emotions don't turn to anger toward the people who are trying their best to get the vaccine here. This is a national distribution problem, not a local one.
Opinion
November 12, 2009
EDITORIAL: Scant vaccine not the fault of local health departments
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