CONCORD — Six New Hampshire residents have died with illnesses related to H1N1, according to Dr. Jose Montero, state director of public health.
The three most recent fatalities occurred in Strafford, Cheshire and Grafton counties. The Grafton County death was a Dartmouth College graduate student who had a chronic auto-immune disorder. That death was announced after Montero held a telephone conference with reporters yesterday morning.
"Both were adults who died with illness complicated by the presence of H1N1," Montero said of the deaths in Strafford and Cheshire counties. "There have been five deaths since the beginning of the H1N1 pandemic."
The first fatality occurred in August, the other five this month, including a third-grader from Pelham.
"Remember, those fatalities, even though unfortunate, are expected," Montero said. "Our hope is to reduce fatalities through education and clinics."
H1N1 clinics for caregivers of children 6 months old and younger and for adults ages 18 to 24 with chronic medical conditions will occur throughout the state over the next several weeks. Montero said a gross estimate of that population is 80,000, but it's difficult to calculate those in the healthy caregiver category.
While there is concern about people not eligible for vaccinations under these guidelines "sneaking" into clinics, Montero said, there's little the state can do to control that from happening.
"We have seen a huge increase in people trying to get vaccines, including people from out of state and those not in high-risk groups," he said. "It's an honor system. It would be incredibly onerous to try to check. ... Unfortunately, there is no really meaningful way we can control for that."
Montero emphasized that the clinics are designed for people who don't have access to a regular health care provider or whose doctor does not have the vaccine, but they are still only for those in the high-risk group.
Last week, the state Department of Health and Human Services modified the groups of residents eligible for vaccination. They now include pregnant women, children ages 6 months to 4 years old, people ages 5 to 24 with underlying medical conditions, and now caregivers of children under 6 months old.
"That is parents and those who provide meaningful care, not occasional caregivers. It's those who really spent a big chunk of time with those kids," Montero said. "It's a kind of open-ended classification and some will try to get vaccine when it's not appropriate."
Vaccine production has been an issue, Montero said, and yesterday he was waiting to hear from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as to how many doses the Granite State would receive this week. Although health officials were originally expecting 40,000 doses this week, CDC officials alerted DHHS that the number would more likely be around 19,000. The state has distributed 205,000 doses of the vaccine to date, Montero said.
Production and transportation woes have resulted in fewer doses of vaccine being distributed and with winter on the horizon, Montero warned, those problems could be exacerbated.
"Last week, as an example, we had an issue with transportation because of the hurricane," he said yesterday. "There was no land delivery for several days."
For those who do get a vaccination, Montero cautioned, it's important to remember it takes one to two weeks to build up an immunity to the H1N1 virus. He said he didn't know whether any of the six people who have died with complications related to H1N1 had been vaccinated and could not say even if he did know because of privacy issues.
He reminds all residents to stay home if they're ill, cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing, wash hands frequently, and call a doctor if a high fever persists or symptoms reoccur. And, he stressed, the clinics are for high-risk residents only and are by appointment only.
"We don't have enough vaccine for all the people we want vaccinated today," he said.
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Find an H1N1 clinic
To find an H1N1 clinic for those in the high-risk group, visit the Department of Health and Human Service's Web site at http://www.nh.gov/h1n1/index.htm. Click on H1N1, then click on "Where can I get my H1N1 vaccine?" Check back often because clinics are still being scheduled.
The state also runs a flu hot-line, available by dialing 211.
Who is eligible?
Pregnant women
People 18 to 24 years old with underlying medical conditions
Caregivers of children 6 months old and younger
Health care workers and first responders with direct patient contact
Children 6 months to 18 years old with chronic medical conditions
Children 6 months to 4 years old
