The Department of Public Health has received 6,000 doses of flu vaccines last week that were donated by the Joint Task Force Homeland Defense in Honolulu, Hawaii. <\/p>\n
Immunization Program manager Mariana Sablan said the vaccines are of the same strain as the 5,000 shots that were received and distributed in October last year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe first 5,000 doses were pretty much given to senior citizens, some home-bound senior citizens and government agencies,\u201d Sablan said. <\/p>\n
She said it was enough to cover the high-risk population so the new doses that arrived will be made available to anyone who had not received their flu shots from October last year to today. <\/p>\n
Sablan said the vaccines are available to anyone between the ages of six months to 99 years. <\/p>\n
She said a mass administration of the flu vaccine is still in its planning process. \u201cIn the meantime, they [flu shots] are available at private providers, the San Antonio clinic, and the immunization clinic at Public Health.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sablan said that a little over two years ago, the vaccine supply was very limited because of funding issues and were mostly given to those within the high-risk population such as medically confined people or people with long-term illnesses.<\/p>\n
But now, \u201cbecause have established a good relationship with these people [Joint Task Force Homeland Defense], we\u2019re able to get extra doses,\u201d Sablan said. <\/p>\n
She said the Honolulu team had been \u201cvery generous\u201d in offering some of their flu vaccines to the Pacific community. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just hope that the community will come forward and get it to protect themselves,\u201d Sabpan said. <\/p>\n
A new strain of the flu vaccines is expected to arrive again this October. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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