State-Journal.com - Swine flu vaccine trickles in

Franklin County Health Department nurse Cindy Wilhoite prepares to administer the swine flu vaccination to Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, who is also a practicing physician. FCHD continues to receive limited swine flu vaccination shipments from the CDC through the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

The swine flu vaccine is coming at a snail’s pace to the Franklin County Health Department.

Meanwhile, hand washing is the best prevention and protection, says Tammy Bertram, the FCHD’s director of nursing.

“Please let the public know we are getting the vaccine or mist to our providers as quickly as we receive it,” Bertram said Monday.

Swine flu vaccine, or the mist, is trickling down to Pediatric Associates of Frankfort, Women’s Care of the Bluegrass and Frankfort Regional Medical Center.

“We have to follow the guidelines provided us by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which require vaccine or mist go to children, pregnant women and frontline health care workers,” Bertram said.

“We are pushing it out as soon as we get it,” said John Lile, the FCHD emergency preparedness coordinator. “But we have been told to work the priority list, and so far that is what we have done.”

Bertram said the FCHD is trying to reach pregnant women with the vaccine through Women’s Care of the Bluegrass. Pregnant women can’t take the mist because it contains a live form of the virus.

Bertram and Lile said the health department has not received enough in any one shipment to even start making arrangements for mass vaccinations at schools.

The vaccine is distributed by population, according to Lile.

“Each week we get a notice to order and we do so. But those shipments take three to seven days to get here.”

Bertram said she is still awaiting last week’s order and that all shipments come directly from the manufacturers.

“If we ever get a good shipment, one that can make a substantial impact, we will start with daycares and schools.”

At least 114 children nationwide have died from swine flu complications since the spring, up from 95 reported a week earlier, according to the CDC.

The deaths in children under 18 represent lab-confirmed cases reported in the week ending Oct. 23. The CDC also received three other reports of children dying from flu. Those are also believed to be swine flu fatalities, but were not fully lab tested for confirmation.

Thus far, 13 Kentuckians have died from swine flu. A Fayette County woman in her 50s became the state’s first fatality in September.

ABC’s Good Morning America pitted soaps and hand sanitizers against one another in an informal test at the University of Maryland last week. The university is known for its work in food safety and microbiology.

Soap and water were the winners. However, technique is key. Bertram agrees. A thorough hand washing requires 20 seconds.

“It requires soap and water, the friction from rubbing and the correct amount of time – 20 seconds or the length of singing the children’s ABC song or Happy Birthday.”

Bertram said she encourages children to wash as long as it takes to sing the ABC song, then rinse thoroughly and dry their hands.

Research shows that most only dash their hands under water for about five seconds -– if at all. During flu season, hand sanitizers with 60 percent alcohol by volume is effective.

According to the ABC report, washing with soap and water is the first choice, especially for visible dirt. Sanitizer can’t cut through the grime.

Antibacterial soap worked only slightly better than regular soap. The Food and Drug Administration recommends using regular soap because of worries that germs will develop resistance and people will become lazy by relying on hand sanitizers and anti-bacterial soaps.