The first shipments of vaccine for the H1N1 flu virus have arrived in the Merrimack Valley, but if you're looking to be vaccinated at a public clinic, the waiting isn't over.
After months of delays, local health officials said they've received only small quantities in recent weeks. As a result, only a portion of the populations considered most vulnerable to swine flu will be asked to participate in upcoming clinics.
It still could take months before the state ships enough doses for communities to have H1N1 flu clinics for the general public.
"They're talking that it could be February before that happens," Barbara Costello, head of school nurses in Haverhill, said yesterday. "We just don't know what we're going to get and when. Unfortunately, it makes planning very difficult."
"No one, and I can speak for everyone, has received H1N1 vaccines in any large enough amount to hold general clinics," said North Andover Health Director Susan Sawyer. "It's just trickling in slowly."
According to Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach, the state has received a million doses of the vaccine since early October, or less than a third of the total amount it has ordered from manufacturing companies.
Of those million doses, Methuen Health Director Brian LaGrasse said only a fraction have been shipped for public health purposes, the rest going to places like pharmacies, medical offices and hospitals.
"We're getting more vaccine, slowly," said LaGrasse. "Over the next few weeks we should be getting more than we have in the past."
LaGrasse said there are only a handful of H1N1 vaccine manufacturers worldwide. Manufacturing delays have had a significant impact on the global supply of the vaccine, he said.
In a post earlier this week on the state's Department of Public Health blog, Auerbach echoed the sentiments of local health officials still waiting for more vaccine to arrive.
"DPH is as frustrated as you are about the current situation," wrote Auerbach. "While we cannot speed up the vaccine production process, we will continue to distribute the vaccine to providers as soon as it becomes available and provide you with the most up to date information on the situation."
Some of the first area public H1N1 vaccination clinics are scheduled Monday in Andover and North Andover.
In Andover, the vaccine will be made available to pregnant women, their significant others, medical professionals with direct patient care, and parents of infants younger than 6 months old.
The clinic will be at the Andover Senior Center from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Health Director Tom Carbone said he expects clinics for children will be scheduled at a later date when more vaccine is available.
Other vulnerable populations identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention include health care and emergency medical services personnel, people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old, and people ages 25 through 64 with chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.
In North Andover, a limited amount of H1N1 FluMist vaccine will be given Monday to sixth-graders at North Andover Middle School. Permission slips for the clinic went home this week.
"We're picking a targeted group," said Sawyer. "If we have more, we'll go to seventh grade. You have to start somewhere."
In Methuen and Lawrence, LaGrasse said details of a joint clinic will be released next week.
LaGrasse said Methuen received two shipments of H1N1 vaccine in the last two weeks, totaling about 200 doses in injection form. More will be needed before the joint clinic is held, he said.
In Haverhill, Costello said the city has received a "very small shipment" of H1N1 vaccine. It has since been offered to city police officers and firefighters on a voluntary basis.
Planning is under way for in-school clinics in early December at middle schools and Haverhill High School, as well as for clinics after normal school hours or on the weekends for younger students, she said.
