Posted on 09/04/2009 6:51:55 PM PDT by BGHater
All military personnel will be vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus, and the vaccine will be available to all military family members who want it, a Defense Department health affairs official said today.
The H1N1 vaccination program will begin in early October, said Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Wayne Hachey, director of preventive medicine for Defense Department health affairs.
The vaccine, which has been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, will be mandatory for uniformed personnel, Hachey said. "What we want to do is target those people who are at highest risk for transmission," he said.
Health-care workers, deploying troops, those serving on ships and submarines, and new accessions are at the top of the list. "Any place where we take a lot of people, squash them all together and get them nice and close and put them under stressful conditions will get the vaccine first," he said.
The department will use the usual seasonal flu vaccine distribution chain for the H1N1, Hachey said, noting that while the mass H1N1 vaccinations are new to the general population, the process for vaccinating against seasonal flu is old hat for the Defense Department. "We've been doing this for decades," he said. "The system is tried and true."
The department initially will receive 1 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, and another 1.7 million doses later in October.
Officials don't know yet whether people will need one dose or two, Hachey said. "The assumption right now is that people will need two doses, 21 days apart," he said. "That may change."
FDA officials still are studying H1N1 and the vaccine, and the results should be known by the end of the month.
Seasonal flu vaccine already is available, and the Defense Department will begin giving those shots shortly, Hachey said. "That has been our message to immunizers: to try and get as many people as they can immunized against the seasonal flu early," he said.
Guidelines for giving priority to family members will follow those for the general population, Hachey said. The Department of Health and Human Services is buying millions of doses of the vaccine.
"Installations are going to register with each state as an immunizer," Hachey said. "They will tell how many people they care for. This includes dependents, retirees and so on."
The Centers for Disease Control will place the order and will ship the vaccine where needed. Family members will have multiple opportunities to get the vaccine, whether at Defense Department medical facilities or off post, Hachey said.
The CDC has established target groups for those at greatest risk for transmitting or being affected by the H1N1. They include pregnant women, health-care workers, those younger than 25 or older than 65, and those with pre-existing health conditions.
Hachey said previous plans are serving the Defense Department well. "We have been preparing for pandemic flu because of its potential impact on the mission," he said.
The symptoms of the H1N1 flu are almost the same as the seasonal flu: fever, sore throat, runny nose, nausea, muscle aches and feeling rundown. The 2009 H1N1 virus - formerly known as swine flu - is a pandemic virus, according to the World Health Organization. U.S. officials call the virus "troubling" and urge communities across the United States to take actions to mitigate the effects of it. The federal government is urging states and municipalities to begin preparing now for the fall flu season.
President Barack Obama addressed the H1N1 pandemic following a White House meeting today.
"As I said when we saw the first cases of this virus back in the spring, I don't want anybody to be alarmed, but I do want everybody to be prepared," he said. "We know that we usually get a second, larger wave of these flu viruses in the fall, and so response plans have been put in place across all levels of government."
But government cannot do it all, and the American people have a responsibility to stop the spread of the disease, Obama said. "We need families and businesses to ensure that they have plans in place if a family member, a child or a co-worker contracts the flu and needs to stay home," he said.
"And most importantly, we need everyone to get informed about individual risk factors, and we need everyone to take the common-sense steps that we know can make a difference," the president said. "Stay home if you're sick. Wash your hands frequently. Cover your sneezes with your sleeve, not your hands. And take all the necessary precautions to stay healthy. I know it sounds simple, but it's important and it works."
The H1N1 is a never-before-seen combination of human, swine and avian flu viruses, officials said. First detected in Mexico in February, it quickly spread around the world. According to July WHO statistics, there have been 94,512 H1N1 cases worldwide, and 429 people have died from it. In the United States, 33,902 contracted H1N1, and 170 have died.
“We need families and businesses to ensure that they have plans in place if a family member, a child or a co-worker contracts the flu and needs to stay home,” he said.
Really, gee thank goodness the federal govt told me that I needed to do that. Otherwise I coulda never thought of it.
Remember when you go to get your flu shot, if someone asks if you are a conservative, lie and say no so you don’t get the shot that turns you into an Obama lover (the kool-aid shot) LOL ( I am joking but I do not trust anything that Obama admin says we need to get)
I remember getting “ambushed” during basic training by medics with the inoculation gun. They hit us with three of them at once...two in one arm, one in the other. It hurt like hell and they don’t bother telling you what you’re getting and for what purpose.
“The vaccine.....will be mandatory for uniformed personnel...”
This worries me. I’ve been receiving a lot of emails warning about the hazards associated with this vaccine, and nearly all of that data is coming from informed, professional sources.
It’s probably Kool-Aid.
In 1976, the forced swine flu vaccinations of the U.S. military resulted in 25 deaths and 500 cases of a serious neurological disorder. According to http://healthandsurvival.com/2009/04/26/swine-flu-vaccine-of-1976-more-harm-than-good/, “...The episode began in February 1976, when an Army recruit at Ft. Dix, N.J., fell ill and died from a swine flu virus thought to be similar to the 1918 strain. Several other soldiers at the base also became ill. Shortly thereafter, Wenzel and his colleagues reported two cases of the flu strain in Virginia.
“That raised the concern that the original cluster at Ft. Dix had spread beyond New Jersey,” said Wenzel, former president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.
At the CDC, Sencer solicited the opinions of infectious disease specialists nationwide and, in March, called on President Ford and Congress to begin a mass inoculation. The $137-million program began in early October, but within days reports emerged that the vaccine appeared to increase the risk for Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes temporary paralysis but can be fatal.
Waiting in long lines at schools and clinics, more than 40 million Americans — almost 25% of the population — received the swine flu vaccine before the program was halted in December after 10 weeks.
More than 500 people are thought to have developed Guillain-Barre syndrome after receiving the vaccine and 25 died. No one completely understands what causes Guillain-Barre in certain people, but the condition can develop after a bout with infection or following surgery or vaccination. The federal government paid millions in damages to people who developed the condition or their families.”
I really don’t have a good feeling about this mandated vaccination for our military.
More accurate headline:
"H1N1 vaccine to be tested on troops."
I still have a scar on my left arm.
And I’m not getting a shot now. I don’t trust them as far as I could throw the USS Nimitz.
When does Zero, his Gestapo, and the RATs and RINOs in Congress get there shots? They should volunteer to go to the front of the line.
Good point....great question!
H1N1 ping
Good news! They need all the help and support we can give
them to stay well, for they sacrifice a lot for us!
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