Except for a handful of vaccines coming to the island beginning Monday, Dec. 22 and available only to those high-risk patients who have doctor’s papers and appointments, you can’t buy, beg, borrow or steal a flu shot on Kaua‘i.
“We really don’t have any more flu vaccine,” said Lani Yukimura, spokesperson for Wilcox Health, which encompasses Wilcox Memorial Hospital and Kauai Medical Clinic.
“We have enough pediatric flu vaccine to take care of those patients who have already been scheduled for their shots,” but no more adult vaccine or unassigned pediatric vaccine, she said.
“We are trying like everyone else to get more, and it doesn’t look promising. If we are so fortunate to get some, I’m sure that we’ll be talking and letting people know,” Yukimura said.
“So, again, we are just like other hospitals and clinics in the nation and have no supply, and are trying to get as well.”
State Department of Health officials are sending to the island roughly 140 doses of the vaccine, 80 pediatric and 60 adult shots, which will be distributed through the DOH Public Health Nursing regular immunization clinics beginning Monday, Dec. 22.
But only those high-risk patients with doctors’ papers whose doctors have made appointments directly with DOH officials for their patients to get the shots will get the shots, said Laura M. Lott, DOH information specialist.
Patients without doctor-signed influenza referral forms and appointments will not be vaccinated, she said. Kaua‘i doctors and those across the state have been informed about the availability of the vaccine, and locations, dates and times of DOH Public Health Nursing clinics on the island, she added.
“We hope every dose gets used up by people who really need it,” because that will help contain the spread of the disease and help the entire community, Lott said.
High-risk patients are those healthy children ages six months to 23 months; adults 65 and older; pregnant women in their second or third trimesters during the flu season; and persons two years of age and older with chronic (persistent) conditions.
Lott recommends healthy people ages five to 49 who wish to be immunized against the flu are encouraged to ask their doctors about a nasal spray flu vaccine, FluMist.
If doctors do not have FluMist, patients can go to www.flumist.com to find a local provider who has the vaccine and is willing to vaccinate non-patients.
There are currently more confirmed flu cases in Hawai‘i this year than there were last year at this time, due to an earlier-than-usual start to the flu season, Lott explained.
Still, the activity level is still well below last year’s peak in what was considered a mild flu season, she said.
Like the terror-alert level activated in Hawai‘i and across the country after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, there is an influenza (flu) surveillance activity level in Hawai‘i ranging from no activity to widespread activity.
The level rose the first week of December (the last full week available at the DOH Web site, www.hawaii.gov/doh) to local activity, the middle of the five levels, after being at the sporadic level for most of November.
The levels, from lowest to highest, are no activity, sporadic, local, regional and widespread.
Kauai Medical Clinic doctors feel they have sufficiently protected at least a portion of Kaua‘i high-risk patients, said Yukimura.
“The pediatric staff said they do feel, though, that they have taken care of high-risk pediatric patients already, and those are the patients that come through to see their doctor because of chronic disease,” Yukimura said.
“What we do want to let people know, in pediatrics they did have a flu-shot clinic in October that not a lot of people took advantage of. So, for the future, we’d certainly like to encourage people to take advantage of the flu clinics early in the year,” she continued.
“The nurse in pediatrics says it really is something that people want to put on their calendar annually, to make sure that they get it.
“Dr. Thomas Williamson, medical director of Kauai Medical Clinic, said that if people do think they have caught the flu from someone, they should see their doctor immediately, because there is medication that can limit the severity of the flu.”
State officials added that some precautions to protect against catching the flu include avoiding close contact with people who are sick; washing hands often; and staying at home if you have fever and respiratory symptoms.
Most people who get the flu recover without complications, but in some high-risk categories or for those catching the flu and exhibiting severe symptoms, seeking medical help immediately is a good idea, said DOH’s Lott.
Anti-viral medications can be used to treat the flu, she concluded.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
