DuPage awaits next shipment of flu vaccines

Maureen McHugh doesn't know when the next batch of H1N1 flu vaccines will arrive, but she has faith that they'll be here soon.

"Every morning I say a little prayer and I go down to the loading dock and check to see if they're there," the DuPage County Health Department director said at Tuesday's county board meeting.

So far, only the original shipment of 7,000 mist vaccines and 3,000 injectable vaccines have been delivered. While some private county health providers have also been shipped a small number of vaccines, the health department will be the largest supplier for the foreseeable future, officials there said.

More than half of the supply has been utilized, McHugh said.

There have been some speed bumps during the organizational process of vaccine distribution, but the board lauded McHugh Tuesday for the department's appointment policy for vaccination. The appointment plan has kept a steady stream of patients filing into the county's three vaccination clinics instead of causing the chaotic and lengthy lines that have plagued other distribution sites.

But it's also caused some confusion and frustration. For instance, some residents have complained of long waits and that staffers manning the phone lines aren't relaying to callers that appointments for the 3,000 injectable vaccine doses have been booked up. Instead, the callers say they've been led to believe the county never had the shots.

The health department will announce a new appointment schedule for the shots when the injectable vaccines are replenished. In the meantime, appointments are available for the mist vaccine by calling (866) 311-1123 24 hours a day, officials said. However, anyone with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women have to wait for the shot. Mist vaccination appointments have been booked through November, and the department is starting to book through the first week of December.

Hospitals have also revised visitation policies in the wake of the outbreak, asking people to stay away if the hospital visit is unnecessary. Some facilities like Edward Hospital in Naperville are even forbidding visitors who are 18 or younger.

For more information about the DuPage County Health Department's vaccination schedule and guidelines, visit protectdupage.org.