Comments on: State/Walgreen’s Feud Delaying H1N1 Shots?

By: Janice Gomez

Janice Gomez — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:36:00 +0000

One of my sisters got infected with H1N1 or more commonly known as Swine Flu. Fortunately, she did not have very high fever and she was able to recover fast .
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By: Brooke

Brooke — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:02:33 +0000

Well, I didn’t sign off on “any on ‘em”. Just curious.

By: El Somnambulo

El Somnambulo — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:31:22 +0000

In response to Cass’s question (hey, I was watching the Iggles’ game), most Walgreen’s stores always had at least one certified immunizer available at any time for walk-ins. Staff also did all the paperwork as well. Sometimes there were waits if there was a back-up. But they tried to have someone more or less available at any given time to administer the vaccine. Don’t know how it would work with the H1N1.

When there is a shortage, shots are generally limited to the at-risk populations. So, most of those receiving the annual shots were aged 50 or over.

By: Joanne Christian

Joanne Christian — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:21:48 +0000

No Brooke, all responsibility you signed off on…the state, the feds, the school district…it’s just good ol’ trust at this point in the venture!

Oh and the drug companies–you did not sign off on them…Sebellius did that for you this past summer–complete legal immunity for any ontoward reaction–unprecedented in US history w/ pharma.

By: Brooke

Brooke — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:35:14 +0000

So the vaccinatori ElSom is suggesting go in also as public health nurses, yes? Therefore, responsibility is assumed by the state.

By: Joanne Christian

Joanne Christian — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:22:17 +0000

Brooke–right now your child is NOT vaccinated by the school nurse–it is a public health team brought in by the state (a hired agency corp of nurses) to knock thru a couple of hundred kids quickly in the hours established. The school nurse is there for the paperwork, identifying, recording, whatever specific to that child’s health record at the school–so there is no “relationship”–it’s procedural–like the Army. The volunteer–is a licensed nurse–who has agreed to go in at no cost to assist. Not a volunteer, like a spare pair of hands shown how to innocculate. Pro bono work essentially. Hope this clears that up.

By: Brooke

Brooke — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:11:22 +0000

Well, and bringing this up because I do NOT know, what is the train of accountability as regards insuring/certifying peoplewhovacinateyou (Vaccinators? the vaccinatori?).

If I go to my doctor, I’ve chosen them as a provider. If I go to the school nurse, they’re covered and vouched for by the district. If I walk into a drugstore, I likely have a previous relationship with my pharmacist. But if my child is vaccinated at school by a …. volunteer? from the community (albeit with some sort of training) and godforbid has a reaction who copes? Do they just phone me and say, “Little Marcus seems to be having trouble breathing, you might want to run him down to Nemours.”

By: cassandra_m

cassandra_m — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:09:31 +0000

So do Happy Harry’s pharmacists just give out a flu vaccine to whoever walks in? I get my meds at the local Super G only because it is convenient and getting meds is rare for me. They give yearly flu vaccines but on a schedule — someone or someones come to the store at specific times and specific days to do it. I would imagine that the drug stores that have those attached clinics would be able to do that all of the time, tho.

By: Joanne Christian

Joanne Christian — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:00:43 +0000

Your note is noted–but the ones I run with, just became “certified” this year. That aside, no doubt they are capable–but once again, it is an inefficient EXPENSIVE model to multi-task your pharmacists w/ immunizing, when the big money is in filling Accutane and Solodyn:)! Also of concern, and I have no idea how they schedule the pharmacist/immunizer–but if you are “in the zone” of meds, reactions, warnings, rechecks etc., etc.,..I think it’s pretty vulnerable to shift gears and do an immunization, and not lose the directed train of thought a pharmacist has and the follow thru accountability they execute continually w/ each transaction.

In full disclosure….I have been repeatedly known to express, I think pharmacists and librarians are the smartest people on earth the public underutilizes. But I value their knowledge, not their manpower. So who knows, maybe librarians or media specialists will be the next trained to immunize!

By: cassandra_m

cassandra_m — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:59:11 +0000

The key question here to seems to be if there is a real unmet need. Which doesn’t seem to match up with numbers that are indicating that there are alot of parents opting their kids out of the vaccination.

Besides, if your school does not yet have it, why wouldn’t your kid’s doctor?

By: El Somnambulo

El Somnambulo — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:37:24 +0000

Your proposal is an excellent one. There surely seems to be an unmet need for delivering the vaccine.

Just a note–many, if not most, of the pharmacists certified as immunizers have delivered shots for several years now.

By: Joanne Christian

Joanne Christian — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:24:55 +0000

This is where the state is blowing it–if there is such unmet need for delivering the vaccine, nurses as a volunteer corp are willing to go in and help. This “volunteer corp” of health professionals was set up post Katrina to identify individuals quickly to aid as needed for state emergencies, or elsewhere. If your writing or reporting suggests such manpower shortage, I’m sure this would qualify–and all someone needs to do is pick up their tin can and string that is connected to the State Board of Nursing, and perhaps request a lil’ help. Meanwhile, the demands on school nurses are for the schools–and pharmacists need to tend to their respective professional responsibilities. If the state wants to provide the vaccine beyond the usual public health outlets, perhaps they need to rethink distribution options of this unique flu season. Furthermore, while Walgreen’s may have shown good business sense in capturing a market majority in dispensation–do you really want to hear your pharmacist say ” I just learned this…this season”? Going forward, it would behoove them financially, and benevolently to employ a nurse or two during flu season, or a bunch seasonally–and not go thru an agency. Happy pharmacists, happy customers, happy state, happy nurses wanting part-time easy work, and happy bottom line. But maybe that’s just the way Happy Harry would have done it–or maybe even Alan Levin. Let my pharmacist figure out my drug interactions, and not the landmarks on my bicep to practice throwing darts.

By: El Somnambulo

El Somnambulo — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:03:39 +0000

I agree w/you on that one, anon. However, I’ve seen some younger kids get really sick w/the H1N1.

Plus, in our case, we’d love for our daughter to get the shot, but the it still isn’t available at her school. Which, at least, partially explains the low number of kids getting inoculated at school.

Conversely, my other daughter who attends school in Pa. got her shot weeks ago.

By: anon

anon — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:50:36 +0000

The numbers coming out of the state reflect that very few kids are getting the vaccine at school. So I don’t think they’d go out and get it at the local Happy Harry’s. There’s just been a conscious decision on the part of many parents to forgo this one.

By: Brooke

Brooke — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:38:57 +0000

lol, s’okay.

Most of the parents I’ve talked to about this have gotten their flu shots at private doctors, so my mental picture of school vaccinations involves lining us all up in the hall and going down the row. Probably with the same needle, lol. It’s a wonder any of us survived.