WTHR |Hendricks County begins limited H1N1 vaccinations

Hendricks County begins limited H1N1 vaccinations

Kevin Rader/Eyewitness News

Plainfield - The Hendricks County Health Department has set priorities for receiving H1N1 injections.

Hendricks County had a unlimited number of patients for a limited amount of injectable H1N1 vaccines.

"We want to get the highest risk people vaccinated first," said Dr. John Sparzo, Hendricks Regional Health.

That means women who are pregnant, caregivers of those younger than six months old, infants to young adults from six months to 24 years of age, those 25 to 64 years old with pre-existing chronic medical conditions and emergency care workers.

"I am just taking precautions," said Kristy Cooper, a health care worker who got the shot at the Hendricks Health Immediate Care Center in Plainfield. "I came in to get my flu shot today because I work in health care and want to stop the spread of H1N1 flu virus."

Doctors have stopped testing for H1N1, relying instead on clinical diagnosis based on science and symptoms.

"We've received 2,300 doses. We've vaccinated 1,100 of our health care workers, which is a majority of the staff that wanted the vaccine. We now have 1,392 doses distributed for patients. We've used 450 to cover all of the pregnant women in the system and then we are in the process of distributing the remaining vaccines to our high risk groups through our pediatric practice and a few through our immediate care centers," said Sparzo.

The vaccinations are already beginning to run low. Health officials say in Hendricks County they should have another shipment by mid week next week.

They clearly will need it. When word of the availability spread Thursday night, the lines stretched out of the building in Avon. On Friday, while the office personnel were able to handle the rush, the doses were down to 50 in the Avon Immediate Care and in Plainfield as well.

A Bartholomew County elementary school outside Columbus became one of the first schools in Indiana to hold an H1N1 flu vaccine clinic. Nearly all the parents of students at Cross Cliff school in Clifford signed permission slips for their children to receive the flu mist. About 80 students were inoculated at the small school.

Plans are in the works for flu shot clinics at several local school districts.

Vaccination packet and permission slips were sent home to parents in the Hamilton Southeastern School district Friday. As many as 20,000 students and staff at HSE schools could get the H1N1 vaccine free at school the first week of November.

Westfield's clinic is scheduled for the second week of November and Carmel plans to have vaccinations at its schools the third week of November. 18,000 students and staff could potentially get the vaccine, but Carmel says the plans depend on vaccine availablility.

Clinton Prairie schools were closed Friday because of a large number of illnesses. Those schools will re-open Monday. The home football game is also canceled.

Check national vaccine supplies

H1N1 flu: Symptoms, treatment and vaccines