Scioto County has more than 1,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine, and will be holding a clinic to inoculate area residents today from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the old Portsmouth High School gymnasium, located at the corner of Waller and Eighth streets in Portsmouth. No one will be seen after 5 p.m. because of time constraints.

“We want to get this out to the community, because we have a lot of the vaccine right now, but we never know when we will get some more,” Bobbi Bratchett of the Portsmouth City Health Department, Incident Command public information officer for the local health coalition, said. “We have the FluMist as well as the shots.”

Bratchett said, while people will receive the vaccine in the order they come in, there is a tier group priority involved in triaging the distribution of the vaccine.

• Pregnant women because they are at higher risk of complications and can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated (Pregnant women should receive only the injection form)

• Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than six months because younger infants are at a higher risk of influenza related complications

• Healthcare and emergency medical services providers with direct patient care because infections among healthcare workers have been reported and this can be a potential source of infection for vulnerable patients

• All people from 6 months through 24 years of age — children from 6 months through 18 years of age because influenza has been reported in children who are in close contact with each other in school and day care settings; young adults 19 through 24 years of age because influenza has been reported in young adults and they often live, work, study in close proximity, and are mobile

• Persons 25 through 64 years of age who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza:

Chronic pulmonary (including asthma)

Cardiovascular (excluding hypertension)

Renal, hepatic, cognitive, neurologic/

neuromuscular, hematologic, or metabolic

(i.e. diabetes) disorders

Immunosuppression, including that caused by medications or HIV

Long term aspirin therapy (applies to a child or adolescent age six through 18)

Close contact with a person who needs care in a protected environment (i.e. someone who has recently had a bone marrow transplant)

Frank Lewis may be reached at (740) 353-3101 Ext. 232