Official: New Hampshire has enough flu vaccine

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – The flu vaccine shortage apparently has ended in New Hampshire.

Dr. Jesse Greenblatt, the state epidemiologist, said the state now has enough vaccine to protect its adult population, as well as residents at high risk for the illness. He said Wednesday that some hospitals are even reporting a surplus.

For instance, Manchester’s Elliot Hospital just sold 3,000 doses to the city’s health department, which is running flu clinics and offering the vaccine to area doctors and nursing homes that did not receive enough for their high-risk patients.

Dr. Jose Montero, chief of disease control for state, said New Hampshire ultimately will get a total of about 300,000 doses of the vaccine this season.

At the start of the season in October, the state expected to get only about 90,000 doses, well short of the 190,000 it hoped for to vaccinate the state’s most at-risk populations, Montero said.

The state eventually got enough to treat those people, and the latest vaccine tally means the state will have about 100,000 spare doses with which to treat the general population.

Hospitals statewide are distributing the vaccine. People seeking shots can find a list of hotlines at the state Department of Health and Human Services Web site, http://www.dhhs.nh.gov.

People at high risk for complications from the flu are those 65 and over, the very young and those with chronic illnesses, Greenblatt said.

In Manchester, shots cost $10 each and will be available to those 50 and older, to anyone with chronic illness and to any child age 6 to 23 months. The shots will be given at appointment-only clinics on Dec. 23 and Dec. 30 at the city health department on Elm Street. For an appointment, call department at 624-6466.