PORT ANGELES — The first batches of H1N1 swine flu vaccine will roll onto the North Olympic Peninsula in mid-October, said Dr. Tom Locke, health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.

Locke gave an hour-long update on the H1N1 virus to 20 people who gathered at the Clallam County Courthouse on Tuesday.

In it, Locke discussed the prioritized distribution of the first batches of the vaccine and reiterated what health officials have been saying for months:

• H1N1 is a pandemic.

• The symptoms are similar to seasonal flu. It has not been any more severe than a seasonal flu for most who contract it.

• Pregnant women and the young are the most susceptible.

• Schools and colleges are ground zero for its spread.

• Simple prevention measures — covering your cough, washing your hands and staying home when you’re sick — are effective ways to avoid it.

In 41 years

H1N1 is the first pandemic in 41 years. It’s a triple re-assortment virus, Locke said, meaning it’s a combination of swine, bird and human influenza strains.

“The last official pandemic was in 1968,” Locke said. “1968 was not the end of the world, nor will 2009 be the end.”

Swine flu is considered a category 1 pandemic — the least severe on a scale to 5.

In the Southern Hemisphere, where winter just ended, swine flu behaved very much like seasonal flu, Locke said.

It spread quickly, peaked for several weeks and dropped off.

Pandemics that peak for months at a time are far more destructive, Locke said.

Unlike the seasonal flu, the elderly population is showing an immunity to H1N1.

“This is a virus that people over age 60 appear to have acquired immunity to it,” Locke said.

“That, now, has pretty much been explained by circulating strains of seasonal influenza prior to 1957. The Spanish flu that started in 1918 circulated in the United States until 1957, and then it was displaced by the next pandemic, which was called Asian flu.”

Who it affects

Worldwide, 80 percent of the confirmed swine flu cases have occurred in people 24 and younger. Fewer than 5 percent are 65 or older.

“This is a very fortunate thing,” Locke said. “The group at highest risk for death from influenza has among the lowest risks of acquiring this new pandemic strain.”

Health officials said the H1N1 vaccine is the most effective way to fight the strain, which is considered a stable virus. The U.S. government has ordered 250 million doses of the vaccine for the population.

The first wave of the vaccine will be prioritized for people at the highest risk for complications, or caretakers of those people, Locke said.

“There are five groups,” he said. “Pregnant woman are probably at the top of the list.”

The second group are the parents or caretakers of infants younger than six months.

The third group is all kids and young adults from six months to 24.

“That’s because they’re the group most at risk of getting it and spreading it around,” Locke explained.

The fourth group in the tiered prioritization group is anyone from 25 to 64 who has a chronic medical condition.

The final priority group are health care workers and emergency medical workers

“These are the people you most want to be able to stay on the job during a flu pandemic,” Locke said.

Many of the early doses will come in the form of FluMist, a weakened live virus that is sprayed into the nose. It will be used for kids aged 2 to 15 who have healthy immune symptoms.

“By the third or fourth week of October, we’ll really start to get large supplies — potentially several thousand doses per week from late October on,” Locke said.

“That’s where we’ll head into sort of the mass vaccination clinic stage of this.”

After the first wave is distributed, everyone who wants the vaccine will have access to it. A separate vaccination will be needed against seasonal flu.

“Based on my projections, we could be starting those general population mass vaccination clinics sometime in late November or into December,” Locke said.

Temporary cancellation

Meanwhile, the Clallam County Health Department is temporarily canceling the Tuesday morning vaccination clinics for seasonal flu at the Port Angeles location, 223 E. Fourth St., Suite 14.

The cancellation is to prepare for the arrival of vaccinations for the H1N1 virus.

“At this point, we are not sure how much or when we’ll get of the vaccine so we are trying to give ourselves a little leeway,” said Christina Dettra, Clallam County health and human services program manager.

Since information on H1N1 is changing so rapidly, Locke recommends Web sites like www.flu.gov.

________

Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.