H1N1 Vaccine clinic 12/02/09

Attention L&C Community Members: 

Lewis & Clark expects to receive a limited supply of H1N1 vaccine next week.  Vaccination is an important means of protecting yourself and our community from the flu.  Please read this email carefully, as it contains very specific details regarding who is eligible to receive vaccine at our H1N1 vaccine clinic. 

The clinic will be held on Wednesday, December 2nd from 2:00pm-6:00pm in the Stamm Room of the Templeton Student Center.  Due to a limited supply of vaccines, this clinic will only provide vaccines to priority groups.  This distribution strategy will help ensure that those most at risk have the best opportunity to receive vaccine. 

To participate in this clinic, you must meet BOTH of the following criteria:

Criterion one:   You must be a Lewis & Clark community member.  This includes:

• All Lewis & Clark students

• Lewis & Clark faculty, staff, and contracted staff

• Family members of students, faculty and staff who are aged 17-64

• Friends of Lewis & Clark students who are aged 17-64

Please note:  Students, faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to come to our clinic between 2-5 p.m.   Family members and friends of students will only be vaccinated between 4:30 and 6 p.m., if we have vaccine remaining.   We currently anticipate that by 4:30 p.m., we will probably  have only flu-mist vaccine available.  The flu-mist vaccine is not suitable for all individuals, especially many of those with chronic illness. 

See http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-laiv-h1n1.pdf  to see if the flu-mist vaccine might be right for you.  Staff will be available at the clinic to help each individual determine the appropriate vaccine for them. 

Criterion two:   You must be in a high priority group for the vaccine.  High priority groups are defined as:

• You have a health condition associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza, including:

• Pulmonary (including asthma, reactive airway disease)
• Cardiovascular (except hypertension)
• Kidney or Liver
• Cognitive, neurologic or neuromuscular
• Blood  or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus, renal dysfunction or hemoglobinopathies)

• Immunocompromised (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by human immunodeficiency virus)

• Pregnant women
• Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months.  This includes students returning over winter break to home environments where there is a child under six months of age.

• Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel (1st responders)
• Persons with any condition (e.g., cognitive dysfunction, spinal cord injuries, seizure disorders, or other neuromuscular disorders) that can compromise respiratory function or the handling of respiratory secretions, or that can increase the risk for aspiration.

Please note:  We have determined that students traveling abroad prior to January 31, 2010 are a secondary priority group for us.  Therefore, from 4:30-6 p.m. only, we will open our clinic to provide vaccinations for these individuals, should we have vaccine remaining.  We currently anticipate that by 4:30 p.m., we will probably  have only flu-mist vaccine available.  The flu-mist vaccine is not suitable for all individuals, especially many of those with chronic illness.  See http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-laiv-h1n1.pdf  to see if the flu-mist vaccine might be right for you.  Staff will be available at the clinic to help each individual determine the appropriate vaccine for them. 

If you are unsure whether you are a member of a priority group, please contact your health care provider (or Student Health at 503-768-7165).    

Other important information:

• Vaccine will be given out on a first come, first serve basis.
• Vaccine is free of charge.
• Both injectable vaccine and the nasal spray (Flumist®) will be available at the clinic. 
• No documentation of county of residence, citizenship or health status is necessary.

After this clinic, we expect to have little, if any, vaccine available in 2009 for the rest of our community.  We hope to have sufficient supplies to offer vaccines to a greater population during early spring semester 2010.   We are entirely dependent on public health officials for our supply of vaccine. 

As a reminder, if you are unable to obtain an H1N1 vaccine at Lewis & Clark, please consider doing so in your home community over Winter Break.  To locate a vaccine provider near you, contact your County Health Department. 

Additionally, you can visit http://www.flu.oregon.gov/Pages/VaccineLocations.aspx for a nation-wide flu clinic locator. 

For more information on H1N1, visit http://go.lclark.edu/h1n1, http://www.flu.gov, or http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1FLU. 

For more information, or questions regarding the H1N1 vaccine clinic, please contact the Health Promotion and Wellness Office at 503-768-7112, or healthed@lclark.edu.

Stay well,

Melissa Osmond, MPH, CHES

Associate Director for Health Promotion