Oconto Co. has second swine flu death

OCONTO - Oconto County's latest H1N1 clinic comes on the heals of the county's second swine flu related death.

The Oconto County Health Department says the person was a younger adult with other health conditions, but not releasing any more information.

"I knew the first one," said Belinda Chou of Oconto Falls. "It's going to happen, there are people who are going to get sick until everyone gets there shots, if they will."

County health officer Deb Konitzer calls the situation frustrating. She says they had extra vaccine to give but would not have been able to give it to the person because they would have fallen into the newest target category just opened up by the state this week, adults with underlying health conditions.

"We wish we could open it up," said Konitzer. "But looking state-wide, having to realize the state health officials have to make some decisions."

Seth Boffeli with the state Department of Health Service says those have been difficult decisions to make.

"The problem is we're still in what we consider a vaccine shortage so if you just open up the doors to everyone state-wide we could really blow through what we have available," said Boffeli.

Public clinics are still open only to target groups including, pregnant woman and caretakers of infants, children six months to four years old, health care workers and now all people with underlying conditions.

Many clinics have not been getting the turnout they have expected. In Madison, Tuesday, there were more than 14,000 doses of the vaccine and just a few hundred people.

"It's a challenge to the public health providers to get what they have as quickly as they can, but it's a better challenge to have more vaccine available than it is to have more people and no vaccine," said Boffeli.

While the state says it is in better shape than many across the country, Konitzer attributes the low turnouts in-part to misconceptions about the vaccine.

"I think there are people who still have concerns over the safety and realizing this vaccine is made the same way our seasonal vaccine is produced," she said.

The state says it is getting close to opening the vaccine to the last target group, all school age children, before it is open to the general public.

While flu-related sickness has dropped slightly across the state, health officials are urging people not to get complacent when it comes to getting vaccinated.