If you want to get the H1N1 vaccine, this is an ideal time — especially if this season’s novel flu virus follows the pattern of the 1957 pandemic that surged again in early 1958, causing a second wave of deaths. (Scroll to the end of this post for free vaccination sites and locations for discounted vaccines.)
Supplies are plentiful, most states have opened the vaccinations to anyone who wants them and there’s a window to get protected before another wave of illness hits, health officials say.
The virus continues to cause illness, hospitalizations and deaths, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a press briefing Thursday. Almost all flu circulating right now in the United States is H1N1, she said.
H1N1 illness peaked twice last year — in early summer and after school started. Now, not as many people are sick and the virus is killing fewer people.
The first death wave came in late October when 48 states reported widespread flu activity. Now, that’s down to four states and Texas isn’t one of them. There were 15 H1N1 deaths last year in unincorporated Harris County and six in October — when the virus was raging. October brought 77 reported fatalities in Texas, the state’s highest number of H1N1 deaths in a single month.
By December, there were fewer deaths nationwide and just one reported in the county’s unincorporated areas. There were no reported H1N1 fatalities in the city of Houston last month.
That’s why now is the time to get the vaccine if you want it.
A dip is deaths during the winter of 1957-58, “essentially gave the all clear whistle” in December and January, Schuchat said. “They had vaccine, but they didn’t encourage its use and yet they did go on to see that increase in mortality.”
U.S. deaths during 1957-58 flu pandemic.
So far, 60 million people nationwide have received the vaccine. In all, about 136 million doses have been made available for states to order.
“The illness is down. There’s plenty of vaccine. It’s a key window of opportunity. We don’t want to repeat the story from 1957,” said Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The UTMB Montgomery County Health Department is offering free H1N1 vaccines to walk-ins from 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. There’s a free clinic this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at Generations Church, 405 Rayford Road in Spring. A Jan. 16 clinic runs from 9 a.m. to noon at York Junior High, 3515 Waterbend Cove in Spring.
The Harris County Hospital District is offering H1N1 vaccines for $14 at various locations.
Or, enter your ZIP code in the widget below to find a convenient provider.