The first batches of vaccine for the H1N1 virus will likely be made available to Dartmouth's Health Services in late September or early October, according to Health Services Director Jack Turco. State health officials, who oversee vaccine distribution, do not have a firm timetable, however, and do not know what forms of vaccines will be distributed and in what quantities, Turco said.
"[The vaccines are] totally controlled by the federal government, which is going to send them to state public health departments," Turco said, noting that the state public health chief has not yet been informed about the production schedule.
The director of Yale University Health Services recently said that the number of doses made available will likely be inadequate to vaccinate Yale's full student population, the Yale Daily News reported Monday.
Turco, in an interview with The Dartmouth, said he could not currently project how many doses of the vaccine Dartmouth will receive.
Researchers now believe that only pediatric patients will need two separate doses of the vaccine, freeing much of the supply to treat a broader group of patients, he said.
Early batches of the vaccine will be reserved for young people with chronic illnesses or active asthma, as well as pregnant women, because these groups have been shown to be at greater risk of serious illness due to H1N1 infection, Turco said. Medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, will also be vaccinated.
The ultimate goal will be to treat all students who seek vaccination, he said.
Citing recent statistics released by Cornell University that over 500 students there have reported flu-like symptoms Turco said that cases of H1N1 have been over-reported in the media, as H1N1 is not responsible for all cases of flu.
Dartmouth has been reporting the number of students presenting an "influenza-like illness" under the Centers for Disease Control definition, he said. Because the only relevant symptoms are a temperature of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit and either a sore throat or cough, the definition is broad enough to encompass multiple strains of influenza.
Limited testing resources will prevent officials from verifying whether students have an H1N1 infection or another form of the flu, Turco said.
Officials at Duke University found that H1N1 was responsible for roughly 50 percent of reported influenza-like illnesses among sampled students, according to Turco, adding that he found this proportion "surprising."
"The point of it is, if [patients] don't have that particular virus, they still have a virus that can spread and cause illness," Turco said. "There's many forms of influenza. All of these are very contagious, and all of them can make you sick."
Turco urged students to get a digital thermometer, which they can use to assist Health Services personnel in diagnosing influenza-like illnesses symptoms over Dartmouth's influenza telephone hotline.
