Anxious public waiting for H1N1 vaccine

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - With H1N1 flu spreading as doses of vaccine only trickle in executives of metro Albuquerque's three largest hospitals are telling an anxious public to be patient and not to panic.

More vaccine is coming, and doctors are expecting at least two-thirds of New Mexicans will not contract swine flu at all.

Still the number of deaths continues to rise, and, hospital intensive care units are filling up.

The first doses of vaccine received by Presbyterian, Lovelace and University of New Mexico hospitals already have been administered to front-line health-care workers and a few people in high-risk groups like pregnant women and small children with health problems.

The next batch of vaccine also will go to those people. New Mexico is expected to receive 1.2 million doses by the end of January.

However how much will arrive when remains uncertain.

“I wish I could give you a date,” said Dr. Bob Bailey of UNM Medical Center said. "I can't.

The medical community also is concerned that by the time a flood of H1N1 shots get here, the wave of swine flu may have already peaked.

“You still should get the vaccine,” Dr. Michael Richards, UNMH director of emergency medicine, said. “We expect the attack rate to be somewhere between 10-30 percent, which means that most of the population won't have had the disease.

"H1N1 will still be with us, and we still will want to do those public health measures like vaccinations.”

As the number of flu cases continues to build, hospital officials again stressed the importance of basic, personal measures to limit the spread of the disease like washing hands and staying home when sick. And catching the flu isn't a reason for panic, they added.

“It's running its course,” Presbyterian Senior Vice President Kathy Davis said. “The vast majority of patients, the symptoms are resolving, and they are returning to their normal activities.”

The chief executive at Lovelace hospitals said because of the high number of flu sufferers, its intensive care unit has 40 percent more patients than it did at this time last year.

And of all New Mexicans currently seeking medical help, 20 percent present symptoms of swine flu, according to the New Mexico Department of Health.