My Life As A Military Spouse

FLU Updates

August is National Immunization Month, and a senior Navy medical official encouraged servicemembers to be up to date on flu vaccines during a “Dot Mil Docs” interview yesterday on Pentagon Web Radio.

“Anyone that is active duty should receive a vaccine,” said Navy Capt. Neal A. Naito, director of clinical care and public health at the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. “We need to protect our servicemembers as they go about protecting our country.”

As early as next week, military treatment facilities will start receiving the flu vaccine and will start rolling out their campaigns to encourage people to be vaccinated. Not all facilities will receive their vaccines at the same time, Naito noted, so beneficiaries should watch for local information.

The flu vaccines come in two types of formulations, Naito said: a nasal-spray vaccine made with live, weakened flu viruses that do not cause the flu, and the so-called "flu shot," an inactivated vaccine containing killed virus that is given with a needle.

“There is no reason to avoid the [vaccinations] because of the two different formulations,” Naito said. “The needle technology these days is so great that it is almost pain-free getting these injections.”

Naito added that the seasonal flu vaccines may provide some slight protection against other influenza viruses such as H1N1, but he encouraged beneficiaries to get the individual shots for other strains as well. Vaccinations for H1NI and other infections can be received at the same time, he noted.

Navy Medicine has been in the forefront of flu surveillance activity for many years, Naito said. The Naval Health Research Center, part of the Defense Department’s Global Emerging Infections System, picked up the initial presence of H1N1 flu in the United States in April and continues to monitor areas where influenza viruses typically show up first to protect the health of servicemembers and their families, he said.

“The reason why we are starting this seasonal influenza vaccine campaign early is because of the national strategy,” Naito said. “The government asked manufacturers to make the seasonal vaccines early so that they then could also manufacture adequate stocks of the H1NI vaccines. So it’s key to get the seasonal vaccine as early as possible, which allows us to roll out the H1N1 vaccines more efficiently.”

Getting your vaccinated early helps not only the individual, but also the community, Naito said.

“Immunization remains the primary method of reducing seasonal flu illness and its complications,” he explained. “Seasonal influenza can be a disease that is problematic for people and can be severe.”

Navy Medicine will monitor the seasonal influenza virus carefully over the coming weeks and months and will be proactive in developing contingency plans to address any public health issues, the captain said.

“The health and well-being of all our beneficiaries is our highest priority in Navy medicine,” he said.

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"Dot Mil Docs" on Pentagon Web Radio

All military personnel will be vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus, and the vaccine will be available to all military family members who want it, a Defense Department health affairs official said today.

The H1N1 vaccination program will begin in early October, said Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Wayne Hachey, director of preventive medicine for Defense Department health affairs.

The vaccine, which has been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, will be mandatory for uniformed personnel, Hachey said. "What we want to do is target those people who are at highest risk for transmission," he said.

Health-care workers, deploying troops, those serving on ships and submarines, and new accessions are at the top of the list. "Any place where we take a lot of people, squash them all together and get them nice and close and put them under stressful conditions will get the vaccine first," he said.

The department will use the usual seasonal flu vaccine distribution chain for the H1N1, Hachey said, noting that while the mass H1N1 vaccinations are new to the general population, the process for vaccinating against seasonal flu is old hat for the Defense Department. "We've been doing this for decades," he said. "The system is tried and true.

"The department initially will receive 1 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, and another 1.7 million doses later in October.

Officials don't know yet whether people will need one dose or two, Hachey said. "The assumption right now is that people will need two doses, 21 days apart," he said. "That may change.

"FDA officials still are studying H1N1 and the vaccine, and the results should be known by the end of the month.

Seasonal flu vaccine already is available, and the Defense Department will begin giving those shots shortly, Hachey said. "That has been our message to immunizers: to try and get as many people as they can immunized against the seasonal flu early," he said.

Guidelines for giving priority to family members will follow those for the general population, Hachey said. The Department of Health and Human Services is buying millions of doses of the vaccine.

"Installations are going to register with each state as an immunizer," Hachey said. "They will tell how many people they care for. This includes dependents, retirees and so on.

"The Centers for Disease Control will place the order and will ship the vaccine where needed. Family members will have multiple opportunities to get the vaccine, whether at Defense Department medical facilities or off post, Hachey said.

posted by LoveMyTanker @ 10:40 AM