SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) –The seasonal flu vaccine is now available in Utah. This year it includes H1N1, Swine flu. Audrey Stevenson, Division Director at the Salt Lake Valley Health Department says “The seasonal influenza vaccine always has three components, and those components are based on the probable circulating strains of influenza that we are likely to encounter in the community. This year, the seasonal influenza vaccine does include H1N1 because that was the predominant strain that was circulating last season.”
This year’s swine flu, and other strains are not the same as last year, so even if you were vaccinated last flu season, you will need another dose to be protected. Influenza kills 36-thousand people in the United States every year. Stevenson says “last year was unique in that we were seeing groups that we don’t typically see in numbers of death, for example early on we were seeing more deaths in younger children and adolescents, also we started seeing deaths in groups that haven’t been as dramatically impacted by seasonal influenza. It’s always a good idea to protect yourself against seasonal influenza. It is not a benign disease.”
But she says the vaccine that prevents it has been found to be safe. “The swine flu vaccine was found to be safe and in terms of adverse reactions that people had, they were no more common with that particular vaccine than they were in the typical seasonal flu vaccines.”
There has been concern from the public following the massive egg recall due to salmonella that vaccine manufactured from chicken eggs could be tainted. Dr. Stevenson says there is no history of that happening. “We have not seen problems with salmonella being transmitted through flu vaccine. There is a minute part of the egg protein that is in the vaccine but it does not pose a threat in terms of salmonella.”
The vaccine will be available at health department clinics throughout Utah in the next few weeks. Private providers and pharmacies are already offering it. It is recommended for everyone six months of age and up.
