Kentucky should begin receiving its first doses of H1N1, or swine flu, vaccine next week. State Epidemiologist Kraig Humbaugh says the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is shipping Kentucky more than 24,000 doses of the vaccine, which initially will be in nasal spray form.“We allocated that 24,300 to our 56 local health departments. So, we gave them allocations based on per capita, and no county got less than 100 doses. So, that was a hundred dose minimum.”Health care workers and caregivers will be first in line to receive the vaccine. Injectable forms of the vaccine likely won’t arrive until later this month or early November. Swine flu is now widespread in Kentucky, but so far has proven to be no worse than seasonal flu, which usually begins in December. Indiana health officials announced Thursday that they’ve placed an initial order for nearly 29-thousand doses of the vaccine.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.