H1N1 vaccine could be arriving at Md. pharmacies next week 

Posted: 7:10 pm Tue, December 8, 2009
By Danielle Ulman
Daily Record Business Writer

Area pharmacies could begin to receive swine flu vaccine supplies as soon as next week, as Maryland opened up vaccinations to all residents Tuesday and people descend on big-box stores for holiday shopping.

H1N1 vaccines had been restricted for months to targeted populations, like children, pregnant women and health care professionals, but now the state has said that a combination of factors has made it possible to expand the vaccination to anyone who wants it.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said that as H1N1 flu activity has fallen, its vaccine orders have continued to arrive. Demand for the vaccine has also dropped since Maryland has delivered more than 1 million doses to those most at risk for getting swine flu.

Stores like Walmart have been waiting since September for orders to arrive in some places, including Maryland. In other areas, the store has been able to offer the vaccine to at-risk customers.

“We’ve done brilliantly across the United States with the vaccine. This week we’ll run over 1,000 clinics across the United States, but we have yet to run them in Maryland,” said John Roehm, CEO of Arizona-based Mollen Immunization Clinics, the company that runs Walmart’s pharmacies.

He said demand has been steady, but not overwhelming because vaccine distribution has been limited to certain people. Walmart will plan for “robust clinics” now that some states are relaxing rules, Roehm said, which would include having more staff and more vaccines on hand.

A Target spokeswoman said the company has not received notice that supplies have become available for its Maryland stores, but the pharmacies are registered to offer H1N1 vaccines when the product becomes available here. Giant Food said it has not received definitive information regarding when it will receive the vaccine. The company said it would continue to update the public as to the vaccine’s availability at its stores as more definitive information becomes available.

Unlike state and local clinics, which offer the vaccines for free, pharmacies will be able to charge up to $20 for administering the vaccines, said David Paulson, a spokesman for the health department.

Gregory Branch, Baltimore County’s health officer, said interest in getting the vaccines should not be as intense as it was early on because so many stores will have the vaccines available.

“The people and crowds are already there,” Branch said. “They’ll be able to shop and get their shot.”

On Tuesday, Baltimore County was the first to offer vaccines to the general public at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, where people were able to walk in and get a shot without an appointment and without the dreaded wait.

John Gruen, who works as an engineer in Hunt Valley at URS Corp., said he got the word that vaccines had been opened to the general public from his office. After missing several opportunities to get vaccinated because supplies ran out, Gruen, his wife and their 5-year-old son made three separate trips to the clinic Tuesday.

Instead of long lines snaking around the edges of the large warehouse-like space, residents moved quickly from station to station, filling out their personal information, getting screened and then vaccinated.

Jeanne Huber, a school nurse at Middleborough Elementary School in Essex, should have gotten the vaccine earlier because she works in health care with children, but she said she underwent heart surgery in June, and was out of work when her employer offered the vaccine.

Huber called the process of getting vaccinated painless.

“It’s been great,” she said. “I’m in and out.”

The state has reported 35 deaths and 940 hospitalizations related to swine flu to the Centers for Disease Control.