H1N1 update for 10/30/09: News

H1N1 update for 10/30/09

The Student Health Service has received another shipment of seasonal flu vaccine. This vaccination is designed to boost your immunity against the seasonal flu (not H1N1). We have about 70 doses available to vaccinate members of our campus community. We have scheduled our next seasonal flu vaccination clinic for:

Thursday, November 5 from 1-2 p.m. in the Student Health Service

First-come, first-served. Because we have a limited supply of the vaccine, we will use a sign-in system to ensure that individuals who are in line and waiting will not be turned away because we run out of vaccine.

Individuals in high-risk groups for the seasonal flu should try to come at 1 p.m., and will be prioritized to the top of the list for vaccination. High-risk individuals include pregnant women and persons with certain chronic medical conditions. For a complete list of who is at high risk for the seasonal flu, please visit the CDC website.

The cost is $28. If paying by check, please have your check ready and payable to Lewis & Clark College. Students may charge the shot to their accounts. Please note: Some insurance plans (but NOT the Lewis & Clark Student Health Insurance plan) will provide reimbursement to you for this cost. Check with your insurance carrier to see if they will allow you to obtain a receipt from our clinic so that you can submit it for reimbursement.

We have more seasonal flu vaccine on order. There is currently a shortage of this vaccine. We still hope to receive the rest of our order, and we will schedule another clinic when we have more vaccine.

H1N1 flu vaccine update

We continue to work with Multnomah County Health Department to secure doses of H1N1 vaccine to be distributed through the Student Health Service. According to our local health officials, shipments to the state have been slow in coming. So far they have only received 6% of the order. For the vaccine doses it is receiving, the county is prioritizing pregnant women and children under 5 first. County officials tell us that it may be mid- to late November before the Health Service will receive any H1N1 vaccine. Keep in mind that information on vaccine availability has been changing frequently. As soon as we have doses of the H1N1 vaccine, we will be notifying the L&C community via email and posting the information on this and the Source. Please check emails and the website regularly. There may be some off-campus providers who have H1N1 vaccine. For more information on where it might be available in Multnomah County, please visit their website, or contact your off-campus health care provider. We encourage community members to call potential vaccination sites before going there, since suppliers may not have H1N1 vaccine, may run out of vaccine at any time, or may only be giving the vaccine to pregnant women and children under 5.