Norman Runs Short of Seasonal Flu Shots

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- Flu shots are hard to come by, but it's the seasonal vaccine that is falling short on supply, not the H1N1 vaccine. Now seasonal flu clinics are on hold including at some metro schools.

State health officials are due 45,000 doses of the seasonal flu vaccine. They expect to get a shipment in the next two weeks, but do not have an exact date. In the meantime, school districts like Norman are forced to postpone flu clinics for students.

A good number of Oklahomans have lined up for the H1N1 shot, including Norman Public School students.

"As of December 1 we will have gone though all of our elementary schools and offered that to our students," Norman Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Roger Brown said.

So now school officials are focused on the regular flu season that is yet to come. But they're worried students may not get the vaccination in time.

"We were notified by Blue Cross Blue Shield that due to a shortage of vaccinations we would need to postpone the clinics we had scheduled," Brown said.

The clinics were to be held at the end of the month at two middle schools and a high school. But it's not just Norman schools that are waiting for their doses.

The Cleveland County Health Department only got a partial shipment.

"We got about two thirds of the vaccine that we expected for adults, and we have been told we should received that additional vaccine in December," Shari Kinney with the Cleveland County Health Department said.

Kinney says adults will have to wait, but children can come in and get a seasonal flu shot.

"We do currently have vaccines for children though the Federal Vaccine for Children program," Kinney said.

And there are still plenty of H1N1 shots and mist available.

Norman's assistant superintendent says so far the district has been very fortunate in that they have not had a high number of students come down with the illness.