HIN1 vaccine for New York businesses

Vaccine goes to New York businesses

As the H1N1 vaccine roles out across America, hundreds of schools, hospitals and community health centers have received their limited allocations. Now you can add some of New York's largest employers too. According to city health authorities, in the last week or so, 13 companies, including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have begun receiving small quantities of the vaccine.

Citigroup has been supplied with 1200 units and Goldman with 200, says Jessica Scaperotti, press secretary for the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. The agency has so far approved orders by 29 employers-including 16 that have yet to receive any vaccine-after they were cleared by the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Big employers that have received or are scheduled to receive vaccine so far include Time Warner, JPMorgan Chase, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, and New York University, BusinessWeek states.

Healthcare workers at those employers are bound by the CDC to distribute the vaccine only to populations deemed to be at high risk of developing serious complications from swine flu: pregnant women, children and young people aged six months to 24 years, people who live with or provide care for infants under six months (who cannot be vaccinated), people aged 24 to 64 with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for flu-related complications, and healthcare workers and emergency medical personnel.

So why have these New York companies received the vaccine? A spokeswoman for Goldman, said the company had just received the vaccine and did not yet have information as to how it would be distributed, saying that Goldman will supply vaccine only to those who qualify as high-risk, per the CDC requirements.Citigroup had not responded to BusinessWeek with a comment as of the evening of 2 November.

Requests

According to reports, Goldman has requested 5300 doses. Only the company's two Manhattan locations are eligible to receive the vaccine as Goldman's other regional offices lack onsite health units, the spokesperson said. So far, only the 85 Broad Street location has received the vaccine. The spokeswoman said the company knows of no employee who has fallen ill with swine flu, "but obviously you have to be prepared."

"It's not that they received it over someone else, it's that they placed an order...This is not out of the ordinary," said Scaperotti. "A lot of businesses hold vaccination programs for their employees. These locations are important vehicles for vaccinating people."

When the swine flu vaccine started becoming available this fall, the agency directed all available doses to pediatricians, obstetrician/gynecologists, community health centers, and public and private hospitals. As the supply grew in recent weeks, the department placed additional small orders for providers that serve adults, both in private practice and in community settings such as employee health centers.

Supply and demand

The gap between supply and demand for the vaccine is gradually disappearing. As of 30 October, 26.6 million doses were available-10.5 million more than had been available a week earlier. Yet there are still fears that vaccine shortages could leave those at risk vulnerable.

The swine flu vaccine is "not nearly as available as we would like," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the CDC director, at a press conference.

As of 25 October, there were 440,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1, and more than 5700 deaths reported to the World Health Organization. Yet because many countries have stopped counting individual cases, especially when the effects are mild, the actual count could be a lot higher.

Teenagers and young adults continue to account for the majority of cases around the world, while WHO says pregnant women are 10 times more likely than the general population to check into an intensive care unit.

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