Kane Co. Health Department: Current H1N1 wave subsiding

The rising tide of H1N1 infection in Kane County that sparked some residents to stand outside local schools for hours to get vaccinated is subsiding, county health department officials said Tuesday.

Kane County Health Department Executive Director Paul Kuehnert said the most recent data from hospital emergency rooms and Kane County schools indicates the H1N1 virus has reached its peak - for now.

"The peak means that we've only gone up the curve," Kuehnert said. "So there's still half the people that are still going to get infected."

Kuehnert said he expects another wave of infections in late winter or early spring, and people should still get the H1N1 vaccination, especially if they are in the high risk groups.

The health department's newest data shows those high risk individuals are seeking and receiving the vaccine more than any other groups. More than 14,000 residents have received the vaccine in Kane County. About 62 percent of them are in the high risk age range of 6 months to 24 years old. The bulk of the vaccinations are occurring in the north and south ends of the county.

But even with that success, the health department's hotline is still receiving about 400 phone calls a day from people seeking the vaccine. Kuehnert said that's partially due to the frenzy of demand created when an initial shortage of the vaccine caused the health department to cancel several public clinics. But now, the latest shipment of vaccinations has flooded the county with more than 63,000 total doses of the vaccine to date. That includes about 21,000 doses sent directly to hospitals and private doctors. The rest have come to the health department. As the number of infections begin to decrease, more doses are piling up, an indication the county will be better prepared to handle the new H1N1 wave Kuehnert predicted for the late winter/early spring.

"This represents a little more than a quarter of what our providers and our health department ordered for vaccine," Kuehnert said of the supply received so far. "I think that we're probably going to be able to, over the next couple of weeks, really meet the demand for vaccine that's been pent up."