* People 65 years of age and older
* Children ages 6 months to 23 months
* Adults and children 2 years of age and older with chronic lung or heart disorders including heart disease and asthma
* Women who will be pregnant during the influenza season
* Adults and children 2 years of age and older with chronic metabolic diseases (including diabetes), kidney diseases, blood disorders (such as sickle cell anemia), or weakened immune systems, including persons with HIV/AIDS
* Children and teenagers, 6 months to 18 years of age, who take aspirin daily
* Residents of nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities
* Household members and out-of-home caregivers of infants under the age of 6 months (Children under the age of 6 months cannot be vaccinated.)
* Healthcare workers who provide direct, hands-on care to patients
Who should go without vaccination?
Healthy people 2 to 64 years of age are asked to postpone or skip getting a flu shot this year so that available vaccine can go to protect those at greater risk for flu complications.
What about the nasal vaccine, FluMist?
FluMist , the nasal-spray flu vaccine, is an option for healthy individuals, ages 5 to 49 years of age. FluMist is not recommended for healthcare workers taking care of severely immunocompromised people when they are in a protective environment and cannot be given to pregnant women.
What else can you do to prevent the spread of flu?
There are certain good health habits that can help prevent the spread of flu.
* Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from other to protect them from getting sick too.
* Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze - and dispose of the tissue afterward.
* If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your sleeve.
* Wash your hands after you cough or sneeze - with soap and warm water, or an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
* If you get the flu, stay home from work or school. You will help prevent others from catching your illness.
What if you are in a high-risk group and your clinic has no vaccine?
Contact you're the Nassau County Department of Health at 571-2500 or ask your regular vaccine provider about other options for influenza vaccination.
Health departments throughout the United States are trying to make sure that as many high-risk people as possible will eventually be able to go to either their regular vaccine provider or a flu shot clinic to get the vaccine.
Source: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov)
Flu shot shortage causes panic, but...
Officials and experts downplay the demand
By Jerry Burke
Long Islanders looking for a flu shot before the virus's season gets officially underway in December aren't having an easy time of it thus far.
"As of today, we have had to postpone our senior center program," said Town of Hempstead spokeswoman Susan Trenkle of the planned vaccination tour of 14 senior centers in south Nassau. Trenkle said they were assessing the availability of shots before making any other further announcements.
"I think people are a little bit troubled," said a worker at the Franklin Square Senior Center, who's Dec. 1 program has been canceled. "But most people are being patient, trying to work things out and hoping that thing will get better soon."
A planned distribution of the shots at the Rockville Centre Rec Center this week is still tentatively scheduled, although Senator Dean Skelos' office, who is sponsoring the event, isn't sure how many, if any, shot will be available. "We're optimistic," said Skelos spokesman Tom Dunham. "But we don't know when they will arrive or how many will be on hand."
From local church groups to clinics to individual doctors, the availability of the shots is at an all-time low. But, as experts have pointed out, the "panic" has also created a record demand.
What happened?
First, the bad news: almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this year because Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine based in Liverpool, England, will not be distributing any influenza vaccine this flu season, was found to have contamination issues in the bottling process. Chiron was to make 46-48 million doses vaccine for the United States.
Now, the good news: 58 million doses of the vaccine made by the Aventis company exist and, according to National Director of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, about 24 million doses of the influenza vaccine supply had yet to be distributed as of last week and will be steered toward the people and places who need it the most.
In addition, the government is in the process of securing more vaccine from other countries, including Canada and France. Many of those doses, including 2.6 million more from Aventis, will be available in January, said Thompson.
County on the case
According to Dr. David M. Ackman, Commissioner of Health for the Nassau County Department of Health, the county is working with a multitude of local health organizations to prioritize the available supply.
"Nassau County hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been contacted to identify their influenza vaccine needs and status," said Ackman. "Physicians were notified by the Nassau County Medical Society and the Nassau Pediatric Society to provide the Department of Health with the influenza vaccine needs for their high risk patients."
So far, Nassau County has determined that the 32 Nassau County nursing homes are in need of 6,000 doses of flu vaccine for their patients and 6,000 doses for their staff. Nineteen adult care facilities are in need of 2,000 doses for their patients and 900 doses for their staff and the 12 hospitals are in need of 10,000 doses for their staff.
Ackman says over 120 Nassau County physicians surveyed reported that they need vaccine for 43,000 high risk patients, but that the Nassau County Senior Flu Vaccine Program that annually provided influenza vaccine for 15,000 seniors was cancelled due to the lack of vaccine.
An estimated 25 percent of the Nassau County population, roughly 325,000 residents, are considered at high risk.
The price of health
Secretary Thompson also warned of an increasing number of price gouging incidents across the country.
"We has organized a federal task force that will coordinate our nation's efforts to ensure that the flu vaccine and treatment medication goes to those who need it most and without any price gouging," said Thompson.
"From the time we learned about our loss of the Chiron vaccine, a strong partnership between federal agencies, the private sector and the public health and law enforcement communities has helped us rapidly and effectively address the challenges before us," Thompson said. "It's important that we keep these partnerships strong during flu season, this year and beyond."
The CDC also warns citizens to never buy vaccines over the internet because of the increase in counterfeit medicines after last year's mini-crisis.
What to do with the flu
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), much can be done to prevent getting the flu. The CDC says you should wash your hands often and to avoid close contact with people who are sick. Also, because your hands may have touched a surface contaminated with germs, don't touch your eyes, nose or mouth.
If you do get sick, stay home. Cover your mouth while you sneeze or cough.
The CDC says anywhere from 5 to 20 percent of the population will contract the flu on any given year. Last year, the available vaccine was not particularly effective because protection against the most common flu strains were not available in the shot.
In the end, most experts agree: don't get the shot if you don't need it, and if you do need it, don't stand on line for hours waiting for something that might not be there.
