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H1N1 flu blamed for 7 more deaths

The New Mexico Department of Health is reporting seven more New Mexicans have died from causes related to the H1N1 flu virus and is altering its priorities for flu vaccinations.

Six of the seven latest victims had health problems which put them on the priority list to get the swine flu vaccine. However, the state still doesn’t have enough vaccine to meet the demands of everyone on the priority list.

Thousands of adult New Mexicans with serious health problems still can’t get the vaccine because of limited supply.

New Mexico has already gotten 220,000 doses over the past six weeks distributed primarily to health-care workers, young children, kids with health problems and pregnant women.

The focus is now shifting to sick adults with 60,000 more doses of the swine flu vaccine are on order. New Mexico still expects to get 900,000 more doses of swine flu vaccine by the end of January.

The shortage in vaccine continues to be a nationwide problem. About 150 million Americans are on the priority list to get the swine flu vaccine, but so far only 49 million doses have been produced.

That number is well behind initial projections.

NMDOH H1N1 Weekly Update: Nov. 18, 2009

Vaccine Information

Starting this week, the New Mexico Department of Health will expand the H1N1 vaccine priority groups to include adults who have a medical condition that puts them at greater risk for developing serious complications from the flu. This group had always been included in the list of persons to receive H1N1 vaccine, however, because of limited vaccine supplies, this group had not been prioritized up to now.

The Department of Health has ordered 283,430 doses of nasal and injectable H1N1 vaccine. Vaccine is arriving in small amounts and is being distributed to providers and public health offices statewide.

People with the following medical conditions are at higher risk for complications: Chronic pulmonary (including asthma); cardiovascular (except hypertension); renal, hepatic, hematological (including sickle cell disease), neurologic, neuromuscular, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus); Immunosuppression, including that caused by medications or by HIV; and people younger than 19 years of age who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy.

The Department of Health is encouraging people in the following current H1N1 vaccination priority groups to get vaccinated as soon as possible: pregnant women, household members/caretakers of infants less than 6 months old, children 6 to 59 months of age, children and adults 5 to 64 years of age with certain chronic health conditions that increase their risk of complications from influenza, and healthcare workers and emergency medical service personnel with direct patient care.

The Department of Health is encouraging people in the current priority group to call their primary healthcare providers first to ask if they are providing the novel H1N1 vaccine. People in the priority groups without insurance or a healthcare provider, or whose provider will not offer the H1N1 vaccine, can get the vaccine from a local public health office. Call your local public health office first to check the availability of H1N1 vaccine. Public health offices are listed in the phonebook’s blue pages under state government or online at www.nmhealth.org .

Vaccine Ordered by County

The following is a total amount of H1N1 vaccine that has been ordered for each county as of Nov. 4: Bernalillo (89,910), Catron (270), Chaves (13,060), Cibola (4,000), Colfax (1,960), Curry (6,570), De Baca (160), Doña Ana (30,020), Eddy, (7,150), Grant (4,180), Guadalupe (470), Harding (20), Hidalgo (360), Lea (8,520), Lincoln (2,470), Los Alamos (2,410), Luna (4,120), McKinley (13,530), Mora (500), Otero (7,650), Quay (1,470), Rio Arriba (7,115), Roosevelt (2,490), San Juan (18,150), San Miguel (4,610), Sandoval (13,530), Santa Fe (18,875), Sierra (1,560), Socorro (3,310), Taos (3,470), Torrance (2,590), Union (530), Valencia (8,410).

Deaths

The Department of Health is reporting seven H1N1-related deaths in the last week in New Mexico. The latest deaths are: a 57-year-old male from Bernalillo County with chronic medical conditions, a 62 year-old male from Bernalillo County with chronic medical conditions, a 58-year-old male from Bernalillo County with chronic medical conditions, a 29-year-old female from Doña Ana County without chronic medical conditions, a 12-year-old male from Doña Ana County with chronic medical conditions, a 52-year-old male from Eddy County with chronic medical conditions, a 43 year-old female from Bernalillo County with chronic medical conditions.