County receives more H1N1 vaccine

By Diane Saunders
Staff Writer
Published on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 9:53 AM MST

The rates of infection from the H1N1 virus continue to climb in Graham County even as vaccine to prevent infection makes its way to the Gila Valley, the Graham County Board of Supervisors learned Monday.

Neil Karnes, director of the Graham County Health Department, said there have been 10 lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 and 347 cases of Type A flu in Graham County since Oct. 4.

Karnes said 1,500 county residents have been vaccinated against H1N1 — also known as swine flu. The county received an additional 400 doses of the vaccine last week.

"We are continuing to offer H1N1 vaccinations at the Graham County Health Department on a walk-in basis, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.," Karnes said.

Graham is administering the vaccines in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control. The priority groups include pregnant women, children and young adults 6 months through 24 years old, health-care workers and caregivers for infants less than 6 months old.

The county, however, is not receiving its allotment of vaccine as expected.

"It's (delivery) slower than we thought, and it's less (the number of doses) than we thought," Karnes said.

The county is distributing part of the H1N1 vaccines to local medical clinics and the Mount Graham Regional Medical Center, he added.

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, 301 cases of H1N1 infections were documented in the southern region of Arizona, which includes Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties. Greenlee recently reported its first death from H1N1.

In an unrelated matter, Graham County engineer Michael Bryce presented an update on the Eighth Avenue bridge project. Bryce said the deck was poured in three separate sections. The next step is casting the barrier walls.

According to Bryce, final plans for the north and south approaches to the bridge must be approved by state officials before work can begin.

Construction of the new Eighth Avenue bridge began in April. The $8.125 million bridge is expected to be completed in December.

In other business, the supervisors approved a licensing agreement with Swank Motion Pictures of St. Louis to provide movies to inmates of the honor unit of the Graham County Jail.

Undersheriff Jeff McCormies said there will be no cost to the county because the inmates will pay to see the movies. No movies with violence or drugs will be shown.

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Comments

2 comment(s)

Heres why wrote on Nov 4, 2009 11:25 PM:

" The article is about what was presented as the Graham County Board of Supervisors meeting. That is why there is more than one topic. My only concern is what kind of movies come from "Swank Motion Pictures". I know, no drugs or violence. It just sounds bad. "

AZ wrote on Nov 4, 2009 10:39 PM:

" Why does the Courier put two seperate stories into one article? The title suggests the article will be about the H1N1 vaccine, but then it talks about the bridge. How about making a new article in the paper instead. If we are suppose to keep our comments pertaining to the article, will our comments be deleted if the majority is talking about the vaccines and then one person starts commenting about the bridge? "

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