Riverside County health officials said Thursday the injectable H1N1 flu vaccine was still available in the Coachella Valley, but supplies were running low.
“We have enough for today, and we anticipate having enough for tomorrow,” Debra Santibanez, a county regional manager at the Palm Springs Family Care Center, said Thursday.
“We've had a steady stream of people coming through,” she said. “It's busy, though not quite as busy as the early part of the week.”
The Indio Family Health Care Center has a very limited amount of the injectable vaccine, Gloria Robinson, a county assistant nurse, said Thursday.
“People should call ahead to make sure that we have it on hand,” said Robinson.
“We're getting it in little increments , and we're not sure when we'll get more in.”
In a letter sent Thursday to health care officials nationwide, Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that as of Thursday 35.6 million doses of H1N1 vaccine were available for order “with more coming every day.”
“As you know all too well, at present, demand for the vaccine in your communities still exceeds the supply we have received from manufacturers,” the letter continued.
As of Thursday, neither the county Palm Springs Family Health Center nor the Indio Family Health Care Center had doses of the H1N1 nasal spray vaccine or the adult seasonal flu vaccine, officials said.
Shipments of the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines have been delayed as manufacturers work to meet the high demand, officials said.
On Wednesday, nearly 1,200 children lined up at Cahuilla Desert Academy in Coachella to receive the nasal spray H1N1 vaccine at the only school-based clinic scheduled in the Coachella Valley.
That clinic, scheduled to end at 6 p.m., ran until 8 p.m.
“If you were in line by 6 p.m. we served you,” said Sarah Mack, Riverside County Health Department spokeswoman.


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