This is no time to panic over the H1N1 flu shot.
That's the message DuPage County Board members heard Tuesday from Maureen McHugh, executive director of the DuPage County Health Department, when she came to update them on efforts to minimize the damage done locally by the novel flu virus.
Unlike some counties where open clinics are doling out shots and mist until their supplies run out, DuPage is pacing its limited supply of vaccine by having residents make appointments, McHugh said. That procedure will continue "until the supply chain grows a little more robust," she added.
She hopes it won't be much longer.
"Every day when I head down to our loading dock, I say a prayer," McHugh said.
Since the vaccine became available earlier this month, the county has administered nearly 6,000 doses of the vaccine. While its supply of intramuscular vaccine — the kind that comes in a syringe — has been exhausted for the moment, the department's Web site (www.protectdupage.org) reports there is still inhalable mist available. People age 2 to 49 who do not have underlying health conditions that complicate their risk are eligible to receive the mist. Appointments can be made by calling 866-311-1123.
It's not unusual for the flow of a flu vaccine to be sporadic when it initially comes into production. By late November, McHugh and other health officials say, there should be plenty of the shots and mist to go around for all who want to be immunized against the H1N1 strain.
Although the H1N1 virus targets a population considerably younger than those who fall prey to the flu in most years, authorities continue to recommend both the H1N1 shot and the seasonal flu vaccine for everyone.
As long as they are not both in mist form, it's fine to undergo the two inoculations on the same day, McHugh said.
Nationally, the flu that first turned up last spring has afflicted 7.1 percent of the population. In DuPage, the toll so far is 7.7 percent.
"That's high," McHugh said. "But we know this novel H1N1 strain is a little different from what we're used to looking at."