President Obama declares swine flu pandemic as national emergency

Concern continues to spread in Kern County and across the country about the H1N1 virus. President Barack Obama has declared the swine flu pandemic a national emergency. Every time the Kern County Health Department gets more doses of the H1N1 vaccine, they're gone in days. In the meantime, clinics around town are still doing what they can with what little seasonal flu vaccine they have.

"Our fair started at nine, and by eight-o'clock we had over 100 people in line," said Kris Grasty, director for the Kern County Aging and Adult Services. In the absence of any H1N1 vaccines to give out, the Kern County Health Department teamed up with Aging and Adult Services Saturday to vaccinate about 100 senior citizens and 50 kids against seasonal flu. That's less than they'd planned to reach, because there just aren't enough vaccines to go around, even when it comes to seasonal flu shots. Still it's clear which virus is on everyone's minds. "I think it's very bad and I keep hearing about all these cases. And I keep hearing about kids out of school because they have swine flu, and it's amazing that that many people have it," said Ron Mitchell, who was vaccinated Saturday.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control show swine flu is still spreading. The death toll in Kern County climbed to nine this past week. Across the country, more than 1,000 people have died. Pregnant women and young people have been the hardest hit.

"They told us that all these flu vaccines are going to be available and all these people are scrambling to get them and they're not available. So I don't know why they even told us that in the first place if they're not going to be available," said Mitchell. The federal government predicted there would be about 100 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine by now, but as of Saturday, only about 11.6 million are available.

The Kern County Health Department announced they'll receive 5,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine this coming week, both in shot and the nasal mist form.

Source: http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/President-Obama-declares-swine-flu-pandemic-as/CpSAPKsBJkyWx7ia6OJbGg.cspx