ER Visits Down In Pittsburgh; H1N1 Flu Shot Still Recommended

More Vaccine May Not Arrive Until After Height Of Outbreak

POSTED: 4:00 pm EST November 4, 2009
UPDATED: 6:58 pm EST November 4, 2009

PITTSBURGH -- A large shipment of the H1N1 flu vaccine may not arrive in the Pittsburgh area until the worst of the outbreak is over, but doctors see indicators that the peak may have been reached already.

Channel 4 Action News' Shannon Perrine reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said up to 30 million new doses of swine flu vaccine are ready to ship.

Video: Watch Shannon's Report

"Realistically, I think if they were to make it available today, we're talking at least two to three weeks by the time it gets here," said Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the Allegheny County Health Department.

H1N1 In Pa. - Go to the state's health information Web site

But the number of patients who visit local emergency rooms with flu-like symptoms has dropped from a high of 17 percent to 9 percent, said Dr. Jim Lando, of the county Health Department.

"It may indicate that we are not going to be dealing with this much longer," Lando said. "However, there are other folks who are saying that we may have a second wave that comes after this, or we might see the seasonal influenza -- the normal influenza that we see -- come back later in the season."

Another possibility is that there won't be another wave and that the swine flu will replace the seasonal flu this year, doctors say.

Either way, when the shots become widely available, doctors say it's a case of "better safe than sorry" for anyone who has not had a confirmed case of the swine flu.

"Most people should probably get it once it becomes available," Dixon said.

About 500 Quaker Valley School District students preregistered to get shots at an H1N1 flu clinic at Edgeworth Elementary School on Wednesday evening.

"Everybody was interested and we thought, wow, we're getting a bigger response than we have doses," said the school district's health services coordinator, Aimee Benedict.

"We think it's the right thing to do for kids. We thought that from the very beginning. It's worked out really well for our school district," said Superintendent Joseph Clapper.