Nasal spray flu vaccine becoming available

The long-awaited first vaccinations against swine flu — the squirt-in-the-nose kind — begin early next week in parts of the country, and states are urging people to be patient until more arrives.

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“We’re moving this out as quickly as we can,” said Oregon’s public health director, Dr. Mel Kohn, who hopes shipments arrive in time to begin some vaccinations on Monday. “This doesn’t do any good sitting in a warehouse.”

Most states are aiming their first small batches at health care workers, hoping to keep them well enough to be on the job as cases of swine flu — what doctors prefer to call the 2009 H1N1 strain — are rapidly increasing nationwide.

In Chicago, firefighters will share first doses with hospitals, to get some emergency responders protected, too.

Full article: here.

Ottawa should speed up approval of H1N1 vaccine, says Ont. minister

Ontario Health Minister David Caplan urged Ottawa on Thursday to speed up approval of the H1N1 vaccine amid concerns that a second wave of the swine flu may have already arrived in the province.

Ontario is equipped to deploy the vaccine quickly, but the province can’t get it until Health Canada issues a licence to the manufacturer, Caplan said.

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Dr. Donald Low, head of the public health laboratories with the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, said a number of flu cases have come to emergency departments over the last few days.

The flu activity is concentrated primarily in Toronto, Hamilton and London, said Low, who is also chief microbiologist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

He said there have been few cases of H1N1 in Ontario over the last few weeks, but on Monday, six new cases were confirmed.

“But unfortunately, that’s beyond the control of provincial governments.”

Full article: here.