Lessons learned from H1N1 outbreak

What a difference a couple months make.

In October, our pages were filled with stories of how difficult it was to get the swine flu vaccine and fears were rampant that we would be in for a deadly, massive outbreak.

Now, the vaccine is more plentiful and the H1N1 virus was not as deadly as first feared.

The tendency now could be to forget what happened and only look forward. But there is much to be learned from how the fall outbreak was handled so we are better prepared if and when it happens again.

A study issued last week and reported on by Daily Herald staff writer Robert McCoppin showed Illinois ranked among the bottom 20 states in health emergency response. The same report said the nation has "serious underlying gaps" in its ability to respond to public health emergencies.

Specifically, vaccine production was sorely lacking. It was difficult to get it to those most vulnerable in an efficient, timely manner.

"Something is wrong with our system," Long Grove resident Lynn Cohn told McCoppin after waiting more than hour outside in freezing temperatures to get her 12-year-old daughter a shot. "It's disturbing."

Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University in New York agreed.

"This should be a wake-up call, but it's more like a snooze alarm. This was a warning sign."

Unfortunately, the answers on how to better prepare are not universally agreed on. The report produced by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation called for increased federal funding, modernized vaccine production and additional measures to reach out quickly to high-risk populations.

Those are sound ideas that need immediate attention. Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Susan Collins of Maine, meanwhile, urged the nation's health officials to look at the H1N1 response with a jaundiced eye and admit mistakes were made. To not do so, they claim, would mean we would not "prepare effectively for what could be even more serious epidemics in the future."

Yet, state public health department officials told McCoppin they did "the best we can with what we have." They said they would review their response in future meetings and ongoing drills.

We need our state and federal health agencies to review their measures immediately and make changes before another outbreak forces their hand. And local agencies, some of whom handled the process of distributing shots very well while others were less adept, need to review their procedures as well.

In the meantime, with restrictions on the vaccines lifted, we urge all our readers to get the vaccine if they haven't already. Certainly those in high-risk categories should get it: pregnant women, caregivers of children under 6 months, people between 6 months and 24 years, health care and emergency workers and people with chronic illnesses.

Call it a holiday gift to your health.