The State Department of Public Health is recommending all residents get a flu shot for the H1N1 virus as soon as possible. The so-called swine flu remains widespread in seven states, including California. Even though some indicators suggest H1N1 cases may be tapering off here, health officials fear another wave of the illness could hit after the first of the year.
As of December 19, 2009, that agency’s data reports 449 people have died from swine flu in California. In a story on the Los Angeles Times website, the Director of the State Department of Public Health, Dr. Mark Horton, claims California has received more than 12 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine: “We can now recommend that all individuals seek vaccination.”
Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health boasted of a healthy supply of H1N1 vaccine in a news release and urged anyone who hadn’t got one to get a vaccination for that type of influenza. It will be interesting to see if some of this vast supply of H1N1 vaccine, being touted by health officials, will make its way to the Burbank area, making some of those flu shots easier to find. The reality is that in recent days, flu shots have been very hard to score in some parts of Burbank.
