Updated: 10/06/2009 2:03 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Becky Nahm

First Doses of H1N1 Vaccine Arrive in Minn.

The first doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine arrived in Minnesota Monday and all 41,000 doses that the state has been able to order so far should be here by the end of the week.

The doses of the vaccine, in nasal mist form, were sent directly to hospitals and health care clinics, but the health department is not identifying which ones.

The department's director for infectious diseases, Kris Ehresmann, said, "We're not saying where the vaccine is coming for security reasons. Because there is so little, the public could deluge those folks."

For example, Hennepin County Medical Center needs roughly 5,000 doses to vaccinate every worker. It will likely receive between 55 and 1,500 doses sometime this week.

Hospital officials have determined the emergency room, including ambulance personnel, along with labor and delivery and maternity ward workers will be vaccinated first.

Wisconsin is also receiving doses of the vaccine this week.

The health department estimates it will take 200,000 doses to vaccinate all of the healthcare workers in the state. It's a job that will take several weeks.

After health care workers, priority for vaccines will be given to pregnant women, caregivers for children under six months old, people 24-years old and younger and anyone with a high-risk health condition.

Also Monday, the state reported its seventh death from H1N1. Nathanael Schilling, an otherwise healthy 6-year-old from Corcoran, died in an ambulance outside of his home.