H1N1 vaccine on the way

The first H1N1 vaccine should be arriving in Missouri in a week or so.

State health department officials say the first 34-thousand doses are leaving the manufacturer now. That doesn’t sound like much,but the department says weekly shipments will boost the available doses to an effective level.

Department spokesman Kit Wagar says the first doses will go to local health departments and to designated healthcare providers. The first to get it will be pregnant women because pregnancy lowers their resistance.

Wagar says those older than 65 are not on the priority list because they probably have been exposed –at sometime–with this virus and therefore have some resistance. He says it hits younger people hardest, but rarely seriously. He calls the H1N1 virus "very odd" because it’s biggest target is the young, not the old.

Here’s a link to the Health Department flu webpage:

http://www.dhss.mo.gov/BT_Response/_H1N1Flu.html

Upload Bp’s interview with Wagar (4:12 mp3)