HSE identifies 80 locations as swine flu vaccination centres

THE HSE has identified about 80 locations across the country that could be used as mass swine flu vaccination centres.

Community centres and schools as well as HSE properties such as health centres, hospitals and clinics have all been proposed by local health managers as potential venues where the vaccine could be administered to large numbers.

The HSE said yesterday it was talking to GPs about its vaccination programme and that nurses and dentists would also be able to provide the vaccine to members of the public, which is to be offered to frontline healthcare workers and at-risk groups initially.

About 7.7 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been ordered from two companies by the executive, and it expects to get “regular supplies” of the vaccine by the end of next month.

Further details of the vaccination programme were revealed as the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on governments to boost pandemic preparations and responses. The WHO said the global spread of swine flu is likely to speed up and endanger more lives in the coming months.

“At a certain point there will seem to be an explosion in case numbers,” the WHO’s western Pacific director Shin Young-soo said. “It is certain there will be more cases and more deaths.”

The HSE has started a five-week radio and television public information campaign outlining swine flu symptoms, how the virus is transmitted, and hygiene practice.

“The biggest single message is that there is a lot people can do to prevent the transmission of flu viruses,” HSE national director of population health Dr Pat Doorley said. “Parents should teach children to protect themselves by covering up coughs and sneezes using tissues, then disposing of the tissues and washing their hands.”

To date, two people have died from swine flu in the State and some 1,800 new cases of the virus were presented to GPs last week, at a rate of 42.2 cases per 100,000 of population.

Dr Doorley said there had been a slight increase in the level of the virus in the community last week, with some 350 additional cases, but that he was hopeful this was a blip and that the virus had reached a plateau. “It is possible [the rate] might come down . . . but it’s hard to predict exactly what is going to happen.”

He said planning the vaccination programme was a serious logistical exercise as everyone will be offered two doses of the vaccine, which will have to be taken three or four weeks apart.

“We have to look at establishing clinics, the scheduling of appointments, how we identify at-risk groups, uptake, and recording of the vaccinations.”