H1N1 vaccine available to third-priority students

Type A H1N1 influenza continues to be the predominant strain of flu circulating in the state of Maryland and at Hopkins.

As of Nov. 10, Alain Joffe, the director of the student Health and Wellness Center, explicitly stated that, "Right now there is no seasonal flu circulating in Maryland. Anyone who has the flu has H1N1."

As of the 11th, Hopkins received a new shipment of H1N1 vaccine doses and was able to begin offering the vaccine to the next priority level.

Previously, the vaccine was only being offered to students 18 years old and under with underlying health conditions such as asthma, a suppressed immune system, a chronic heart condition, diabetes or a neurological disease, or students within that age group who were also pregnant. Those are the conditions most likely to lead to complications when combined with H1N1.

However, with the new shipment, Hopkins is able to offer the vaccine to all undergraduates under 64 with those health conditions, as well as students who are the primary caregivers of a child six months or younger. This priority level is known as Tier 1C.

This is in accordance with guidelines presented by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which lays out the categories describing individuals most at risk for serious health complications if they get H1N1.

Those individuals would also be more at risk for complications if they caught seasonal flu, and so for a time the Health and Wellness required that students getting the swine flu vaccine also got the seasonal flu vaccine.

However, according to an update on the Health and Wellness Center's Web site as of the 6th, that requirement has been waived because Health and Wellness has run out of seasonal flu vaccine.

Also according to the Web site, they "do not anticipate getting more" of the seasonal vaccine.Although broadcast e-mails have been sent out alerting students that the third priority group is now eligible to receive the vaccine, the Health and Wellness Center's Web site was last updated on Nov. 6, so it only mentions the first two priority levels.

As of this week, The Maryland Flu Watch found that the state has reported 664 hospitalizations for H1N1, out of a total of 1,055 hospitalizations for all types of flu.

H1N1 vaccine is available to students for free, since the state is covering the cost. Maryland is also covering the cost of the vaccine for all state employees and retirees under their Health and Welfare Benefits program through June 30 of next year.

As of yesterday, 47,654,100 doses of swine flu vaccine have been allocated nationwide. Of those, so far 40,720,200 have been shipped around the country. 703,500 of those have been shipped to Maryland.

According to the Associated Press, as of the 12th H1N1 has affected roughly 22 million people in the U.S. Nearly 4,000 of those affected in the states have died as a result of the disease, although figures can vary based on how the data is analyzed.

At the moment, only certain individuals considered to be at a high risk are receiving diagnostic testing to determine for certain if they have the flu and if so, what strain.

These individuals are those who required hospitalization because of their flu-like symptoms and pregnant women or people with suppressed immune systems, since a specific diagnosis may affect their treatment.

For mostly healthy individuals, a flu diagnosis would not have a major effect on their treatment. Since the actual test to determine what strain of flu a person can only be performed in a limited number of laboratories, the CDC deemed this focus on high-risk individuals necessary, according to its Web site.

In terms of treatment, the University and the CDC only recommend the use of antiviral drugs for individuals who are considered severely ill, generally to the point where hospitalization is required.

"There is a real concern with the virus mutating," Joffe said.

The University has no isolation ward, so students are advised to stay in their rooms and avoid campus events and classes if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms. Students diagnosed with H1N1 who live within three to four hours of Hopkins are also advised to go home to recover, according to Joffe.