FLU SHOTS RUNNING LATE AGAIN VACCINE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE IN LATE OCTOBER, SOON ENOUGH TO BE OF BENEFIT.Hospitals and county health officials across the region say that flu shots will be late again this year, but not as late as last year. The one-month delay is not expected to have a major impact and officials said people should not worry. The vaccine is expected to begin arriving in late October, while last year flu shots were not available until late November or early December. Flu shots are typically given in September and October. Due to a two- month delay in the delivery of vaccines last year, flu patients jammed emergency rooms around the county and hospitals were forced to turn away ambulances because of overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. . The delays sparked hearings in Congress and the state Legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions: ``To put it simplistically, the whole system is being pushed back by a month,'' said Dr. David Dassey, deputy medical director for Acute Communicable Disease communicable disease n. A disease that is transmitted through direct contact with an infected individual or indirectly through a vector. Also called contagious disease. Control in the county Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
``If we are as fortunate as we have been for many years, the serious influenza season will not arrive until late December. So we should be adequately protected, even for individuals who get their shot in December because it takes the body one to two weeks to generate its immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. response.'' Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. say more vaccine is expected to be available this year than in prior years, but delays are expected with 56 percent of the nation's 79.1 million doses distributed by the end of October, 31 percent in November and 13 percent in early December. Along with the delay, the price of the vaccine has more than doubled and the state Department of Health Services has more than doubled its budget to order the same 700,000 doses it bought last year. ``A lot of my patients and people in the health profession think the manufacturer does this on purpose to hike up the costs,'' said Dr. Frank Balderrama, a Van Nuys internist internist /in·tern·ist/ (in-ter´nist) a specialist in internal medicine. in·ter·nist n. A physician specializing in internal medicine. . Federal officials recommend that shots go to elderly people, pregnant women in their second and third trimesters and those with chronic illnesses and weakened immune systems. Influenza caused 20,000 American deaths last year. Mei Ling Schwartz, director of health and physician education at Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center, said CDC See Control Data, century date change and Back Orifice. CDC - Control Data Corporation officials recommend the best time to get flu shots is from mid-October to mid-November. ``The peak of the flu season is December, January and February,'' she said. ``Getting the shot too early could prevent us from doing well during the flu season.'' She said elderly people and those medically at-risk should get their shots early in October. ``For the healthy population, getting the flu shot in October or November is fine,'' she said. Robert Seidman, chief pharmacy officer for Blue Cross of California, said the situation is much better than last year. |
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