Dallas County has received 530,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine to date. The vaccine is now available to all residents.
“Because of the improving vaccine supply and recent indications of decreasing demand for vaccine in the priority group populations in our community, DCHHS is now extending the offer of H1N1 vaccine to all Dallas County residents who desire to receive the vaccine,” said a post on the Dallas County web site.
The county recommends people in certain priority groups get the vaccine. Those groups are:
• Pregnant women
• People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age
• Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel
• Persons between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old
• People ages of 25 through 64 years of age who have chronic health disorders
Bret Camp of the Nelson Tebedo Health Resource Center said that last group includes people with HIV.
Flu vaccine is usually recommended for people over the age of 50, but H1N1 has not particularly hit that group hard yet this year. Researchers suspect that older people may have some immunity from an earlier, related strain of the virus.
Tarrant and Collin counties also report sufficient stockpiles of the vaccine to offer to all of their county residents.
