RI, Mass. wait for more H1N1 vaccine

The distribution of the H1N1 vaccine to clinics in Rhode Island and Massachusetts has differed quite a bit.

The vaccine has been arriving in dribs and drabs

The Rhode Island Department of Health has been allocated about 150,000 doses so far, one-quarter of what it put in for.

Massachusetts health officials say its 351 cities and towns have received more than 1 million doses to date, less than one-third of what was ordered.

In the Boston suburb of Needham, 47 people, 15 of them firefighters, got the wrong vaccine.  They were given the seasonal flu shot instead of the H1N1 vaccine.

The mistake was caught and they did receive the correct vaccine.

“It was likely that somebody didn’t fully read the label on the box that the vaccine comes in, saw the H1N1 and assumed it was the 2009 H1N1 vaccine because seasonal flu vaccine is a three-strain flu vaccine. One of the strains in it is an H1N1 strain, but it is different than the one that is circulating,“ said Dr. Penelope Dennehy, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

Dr. David Gifford, director of the state Department of Health, said a similar mistake is nearly impossible in Rhode Island.

“We’re doing almost all of our vaccine through pediatricians’ offices or school clinics, and we’re just delivering the H1N1 to them. They don’t even have the seasonal flu there with them to make the mix up,“ Gifford said.

Dennehy and Gifford commented Wednesday during a taping of “10 News Conference: Special Assignment.“