By Rod Rose/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon — More than 1,400 adults and 400 children have received flu vaccinations from the Boone County Health Department.
Cindy Murphy, R.N., head of the department’s nursing and vital records division, said Tuesday there have been no confirmed reports of influenza in Boone County.
Shot clinics have been held in Lebanon, Jamestown, Thorntown, Whitestown and Zionsville, Murphy said.
A “family flu clinic” will be 2 to 6 p.m. Dec. 3 at the health department, in the rear basement of the Boone County Office Building, 116 W. Washington St., Lebanon.
Shots for adults are $20. Shots for children ages six months to 18 are $6. Any child six months through 8 getting a flu shot for the first time will need a booster shot, Murphy said. Pneumonia vaccinations will cost $35.
Anyone may stop at the health department between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday for a flu shot.
“We still have flu vaccine available,” Murphy said. “A lot of people are dropping by at their convenience.”
Through Nov. 8, there were sporadic reports of flu in Indiana and 15 other states, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sporadic reports can include as few as one laboratory-confirmed infection, the CDC said.
This season’s flu strains expected to cause the most illness are A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1)-like, A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like, and B/Florida/4/2006-like. The CDC said 23 of the 40 specimens it tested between Nov. 2-8 were Influenza A viruses that had not been subtyped.
None of the confirmed strains were resistant to the nasal spray flu vaccine oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu), the CDC said.
It is too soon to estimate which flu strains will appear or whether the vaccine will be effective against the viruses, the CDC said.
Less than half the nation’s population between 18 and 49 were vaccinated against the flu during the 2006-07 season, the CDC said.
