A Double Dose Of H1N1 For Kids

(Savannah) Arrive early to beat the crowd.  What crowd?  Austin day, his little brother, and parents are among the first to show up for the H1N1 vaccine thursday morning.  “Just better than being sick.  I’d rather get the nasal spray than the shot because I don’t like shots,“ says Austin Day.
“That’s hard.  It’s better than a shot.  Hold your head back.“  Little brother Raymond Jack Clark will likely have to get a double dose to be fully protected.
“The studies have shown us in children under the age of 10 to get a good hearty response they are going to need 2 doses 1 month apart,“ says Dr. Diane Weems.  “It’s been hit or miss at the Chatham County Health Department.  Only about 60 doses of the vaccine have been given.“  There are a lot of reasons some parents are hesitating.  Others simply aren’t taking the risk.  “We believe as we get the injectable we expand the target groups and as more individuals in the community get the vaccine and feel more comfortable with it that demands going to increase very quickly and significantly,“says Dr. Weems.
And health officials are adamant that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh potential risks.  “We know most of who are hospitalized and die have underlying risk factors, but we also know there’s a significant number of healthy otherwise healthy children who are ending up in the hospital, and some of those children are dying.“  Health Officials say the injectable form of the H1N1 Vaccine should arrive in Chatham County by the end of this week or early next week.