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Only a few people get H1N1 vaccine locally
1007H1N1
Tiffany Scroggs of Gainesville holds 2-year-old son Jase Mark Acker while registered nurse Dale Boleman administers a vaccination for the H1N1 virus via nasal spray Tuesday at the Hall County Health Department. Tuesday was the first day that H1N1 vaccines were available. - photo by SARA GUEVARA

When Tiffany Scroggs found out that H1N1 vaccines were available for her 2-year-old, she knew exactly where she would be Tuesday afternoon ­— at the health department waiting.

“I always get a (seasonal) flu shot,” said Scroggs, a Gainesville resident who got her son, Jase Mark Acker, vaccinated Tuesday. “When the (H1N1) vaccines are available for everyone else, I plan to get the rest of my family vaccinated, too.”

Tuesday marked the first day that H1N1 vaccinations were available in Georgia and as outlined by the CDC, they were only available for 2- to 4-year-olds. The CDC picked that group because they are especially vulnerable to getting sick, health officials say.

More than 2,700 vaccinations were delivered to the District 2 Public Health area, which includes Hall, Banks, Dawson, Forsyth, Habersham, Lumpkin and White counties. The shipments were distributed throughout the state based on population counts. All of the vaccinations that were allotted to District 2 were made available to the public only through the Hall County Health Department.

“As more vaccinations become available, we will have them available at other locations,” said Dave Palmer, public information officer for District 2.

Although many people have been waiting for months for the them, Palmer says only a few residents took advantage of the vaccines on Tuesday.

“So far we have had light demand for the H1N1 vaccine. This could be due to the message getting out late that it is available and people have to arrange their schedules. We do anticipate that as more people learn that we have the vaccine, the demand will increase,” said Palmer.

“Also right now public health departments are the only provider that has the vaccine. As more vaccine becomes available, the providers that signed up to administer it will begin to get their shipments.”

The H1N1 vaccines come in two varieties, a nasal spray and an injection. Currently, only the nasal vaccination is available. Because the nasal vaccine contains a live virus, it is only recommended for healthy individuals who are between the ages of 2 to 49. Although the first round of nasal vaccines are only available for 2- to 4-year-olds, as more vaccines are produced and distributed they will be made available to the rest of the residents who fall in the broader age range.