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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

First flu vaccines won’t reach UA

The first batches of the new swine flu vaccine have arrived in Pima and Yuma counties.

Pima County Health Department spokeswoman Patti Woodcock says the county received 9,000 doses of a live virus formulation of the vaccine and will begin distributing it at regular clinics starting on today.

None of the swine flu vaccine that arrived recently in Pima County will be delivered to the UA, Woodcock said.

Campus Health Services officials had said they expected to begin receiving swine flu vaccinations in early November, and remain unclear about exactly when the vaccines will become available on campus, said Campus Health spokeswoman Terri West.

“”We don’t even know when we’re going to get it,”” she said.

Yuma County received 1,900 doses on Wednesday. They will be given to health care workers and pediatric patients.

The vaccine is in a nasal mist. State health officials expect about 70,000 doses to arrive in the state’s 15 counties this week.

The first batches of injectable vaccine, which uses a killed virus, are expected to start arriving within weeks. Between 800,000 and 1 million doses are expected then.

By the height of the flu season in January, the state hopes to have vaccinated up to 70 percent of the population — as many as 4 million people.

— The Associated Press

contributed to this article

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