H1N1 Clinics Offered This Week

The Louisville Metro Department of Health and Wellness will begin vaccinating the public for H1N1 this week.About 15-thousand doses will be administered between 8 AM and 8 PM on Wednesday and Thursday at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium.Priority groups such as doctors have already been vaccinated in Louisville, and that's why Public Health Director Adewale Troutman says Jefferson County is behind its neighbors in offering the vaccine to the public."It's difficult to compare one county to another," he says. "We got word from one county, 'Well we've given our vaccine to our two obstetricians, our one pediatrician and our one clinic.' Well we've got thousands of docs, major, major healthcare delivery systems."The doses are intended for those who are most at risk of contracting H1N1, but others will not be turned away. Troutman says doses continue to be shipped to Louisville, and further clinics will be offered at various locations, including schools."We are talking about going to some 200 institutions with staff, volunteer staff, paid staff to run clinics at the school systems," he says. "That's really an amount of planning, which is why it's taking us a bit longer to get that done."Troutman says children will only be vaccinated with a parent's permission and he's not sure exactly when other clinics will be offered.