A batch of 200 doses of the vaccine in the form of a nasal spray has already been made available to medical providers and first responders, Turco said. This includes many medical students, Safety and Security officers and emergency medical service workers.
Roughly half of the 200 doses have been used, Turco said.
The nasal spray form of the vaccine, which contains a live, attenuated form of the H1N1 virus, is FDA approved only for people under age 50 who are not pregnant and do not have asthma, diabetes or any immune system problems.
The injectable, "killed" form of the vaccine, which is FDA approved for all patients, should arrive at the College at the end of this week, Turco said.
The College requested 500 doses of the killed vaccine and is expecting to receive 400 doses within the next few days, he said. Because of the limited number of doses available, the New Hampshire Public Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have asked institutions only to request enough of the vaccine for first responders, medical providers and those considered at high risk for developing complications if they contract the flu.
The College estimated the number of people in each category, then rounded up when placing the order for the initial doses, Turco said.
The state has not yet requested information about how many doses the College will need for the rest of the student body, Turco said.
Once the state makes its request, Dick's House should begin receiving regular shipments of the vaccine.
Turco said he expects shipments to come every one to two weeks, although no definitive decision has been made about shipping schedules or how many doses will be in each shipment.
"I don't have a crystal ball," Turco said. "I can't predict when the shipments will arrive."
Despite complaints about the amount of time it has taken for vaccines to arrive, Turco said he is impressed by the speed with which the vaccine was made available.
"I think, looking back, its somewhat phenomenal what they have been able to identify a strain, come up with a vaccine that produces antibodies against the virus, use the vaccine in trials, then take what they learned from that to then go into mass production to produce millions and millions of does of the vaccine," he said.
Students will likely be able to sign up online for the H1N1 vaccine through a system similar to that used for the seasonal flu vaccine clinics. Dick's House will inform students when they will be able to sign up for the vaccine, likely through a campus-wide e-mail, Turco said.
Turco said information will soon be published advertising clinic sign-up information, specifically for students who are at high risk for developing complications, including those with active asthma, immune deficiencies or who are pregnant.
