First Responders Get H1N1 VaccineEmergency medical personnel began receiving the H1N1 vaccine this morning.
Teresa Miller, communicable disease nurse for the Kosciusko County Health Department, said the county received 700 doses to start with. Those doses are going to be used on first responders and people who encounter high-risk people, including doctors and nurses.Miller said that today or tomorrow they expect to hear from the state health department on how much more of the vaccines they can request. Miller said at that point they will maximize that order.
Kept in a blue cooler, Miller began administering the vaccines, which are applied through both nasal cavities, to emergency responders at the Multi-Township EMS building, Center Street, Warsaw, this morning.
People who have immune diseases and children with wheezing disorders can't receive the nasal vaccine.
Half the dose is administered in each nostril.
Up to 15 people were expected to receive the vaccine this morning at the Multi-Township building this morning.
Miller said she was aware that some people were going to refuse getting the vaccine.
"It's a personal decision," said Miller. "As for me, I'm very well informed and understand pandemic influenza and the mutation of viruses, and I got one."
H1N1 recently was attributed to the death of a child in St. Joseph County, according to Miller.
Miller said she has seen younger people have trouble with it, having seen serious illness in people under 24.
