More vaccine to arrive soonPowell Valley Healthcare received its first 100 doses of swine flu vaccine this week in the form of a live nasal vaccine. As of Wednesday afternoon, 96 doses of the vaccine had been administered to employees.

Carole Genz-Mould, infectious disease preventionist at Powell Valley Healthcare, said she expects more vaccine to arrive soon, with some of the injectable vaccine possibly arriving later this week.

It's not unusual for people to be afraid of the vaccine for swine flu, especially the live nasal variety.

“Anything that's new or different — there's a natural fear of the unknown,” she said.

However, Genz-Mould said the swine (novel H1N1) flu vaccine reportedly has gone through the same steps and testing as occurs each year with the seasonal flu vaccine.

“They tested it as much as the seasonal,” she said. “Every year, the seasonal (vaccine) changes. They used the same methodology, with the same, equal risk.”

Genz-Mould said people were understandably nervous about receiving the nasal vaccine. Many employees declined — either because they preferred not to get it or because they were in a risk group, such as people with diabetes or asthma, that was advised against getting the live vaccine.

“When people decline, I just go, OK. I'm not going to talk anyone into anything. You take your own risk whether you catch the flu. You use your best education, and then you make a decision.

“If you get the (swine) flu, you're going to have a fever for a couple of days, then get better,” she added. “You're just going to feel like crap, and you're going to expose a bunch of other people. But that's one way to get immunity.”

Genz-Mould said she's also fielded a number of calls from the public wanting advice about whether they should get the vaccine when it's available.

“I try to go through the shopping list with them of high risks,” she said, such as whether they've had reactions to vaccinations before, or if they have chronic conditions that could make them more susceptible to the flu.

One of the most unusual aspects of the swine flu is that it appears to be hardest on younger people, and is less severe for those 65 and older.

“They think that (a similar) one went around in the 1950s,” she said. “If you were a child in the 1950s, you got exposed and have some natural immunity.”

Instead, “it hits children a lot harder, and they group up in schools. They expose each other.”

“Because the risk factors for seasonal and H1N1 are so different, I find people get really confused.”

Genz-Mould said the number of vaccine doses available is expected to increase each week. But she noted that many people in Powell and surrounding area already have contracted the swine flu virus. Many are ill now, and others already have recovered.

“In the state of Wyoming this week, it's higher than it's ever been,” she said. While swine flu symptoms are no worse than the seasonal flu, “there are huge amounts of numbers.”

Powell Valley Healthcare employees who come down with the flu are asked to stay home until they've gone 24 hours without a fever, she said.

“People are getting a pretty good fever with this — 101 to 103 degrees,” she added.