The swine flu vaccine is here.

The Coastal Health District in Chatham County has received an initial shipment of 3,200 doses of the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine. The shipment was part of the initial batch of 54,800 doses of H1N1 vaccine received by the state of Georgia. The doses are being distributed throughout the District’s eight counties which include Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, McIntosh, Liberty, and Long.

The first shipment is in the form of a nasal spray which contains live attenuated influenza vaccine (live virus). The spray cannot cause the H1N1 flu; however, as with seasonal flu vaccine, some minor side effects could occur including a low-grade fever, runny nose, nasal congestion or cough.

Because the first vaccine allocation is small and consists of the nasal spray only, the Coastal Health District is following recommendations by the state of Georgia to target young children (primarily ages 2 to 4) with the initial vaccine doses.

Health departments will not charge for the vaccine; however Medicaid, Medicare and some private insurance can be billed for a nominal administration fee.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Health/Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.