1 / 6

Local Health and H1N1

Local Health and H1N1. Anne Bailowitz, MD, MPH Medical Director, Environmental Health and Emergency Programs Bureau Chief, Child Health and Immunization Baltimore City Health Department

titus
Download Presentation

Local Health and H1N1

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Local Health and H1N1 Anne Bailowitz, MD, MPH Medical Director, Environmental Health and Emergency Programs Bureau Chief, Child Health and Immunization Baltimore City Health Department NVAC Teleconference August 24, 2009

  2. Local Health and H1N1: Issue 1 - Staffing • Funds: Where are they? • Seasonal and H1 influenza vaccination efforts: No letters of award yet • Seasonal influenza grant authorized under ARRA (stimulus) legislation was due for disbursement to states initially in October, now the date is September. • H1N1 influenza grant (PHER Phase I) will be disbursed when? • Federal government funding delays translate into 4-6 weeks of LHD delay (minimum) in completion of hiring processes. • LHDs short on staff will not be able to start vaccinating until mid-October unless a significant recruiting effort for volunteers occurs.

  3. Local Health and H1N1: Issue 2 – Vaccine Availability • How much is coming and when? • The amounts and timeline for delivery change frequently: shift to decreased (down from 120 million to 85 million) and staggered delivery in October. • It is challenging to plan and implement vaccination efforts with these changing scenarios – e.g. setting clinic dates for school-located vaccination (SLV) requires solid advance planning, precluded by these uncertainties. • How will vaccine be distributed? • Will LHDs have a role in vaccine delivery? • Such a role could seriously compromise LHD-led vaccination efforts. • What is being done to counter claims of anti-vaccine groups re: H1N1 vaccine /thimerosol, etc.

  4. Local Health and H1N1 Vaccine: Issue 3 - Communication • More information on non-vaccination tools: surveillance: definition, how the public can help; mitigation: beyond hand washing • Don’t forget TV and radio • Complete flu protection = seasonal + H1 vaccinations • More communication to businesses and 18-24 year olds in universities/workplace

  5. Summary • Funds are needed asap to hire staff. • Vaccine amounts and delivery schedules need better definition. • Communication efforts need added focus on: the business sector, 18-24 year olds; don’t forget TV and radio.

  6. Questions? Anne Bailowitz, MD, MPH Anne.Bailowitz@baltimorecity.gov 410-236-9285

More Related