Boston.com | August 13, 2009
By Stephen Smith
Massachusetts health authorities took the unprecedented step yesterday of deputizing dentists, paramedics, and pharmacists to help administer vaccines against both the seasonal flu and the novel swine strain expected to make a return visit in the fall.
In another emergency measure, regulators directed hospitals and clinics to provide vaccine to all their workers and some volunteers, a move designed to keep the medical workforce robust and prevent doctors and nurses from making their patients sick.
The actions illustrated the intensifying sense of urgency as health authorities, hospital administrators, and clinic executives across the nation confront the prospect of providing hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine against not one but two deadly types of flu in the same season.
“It’s a huge burden of work; there’s no doubt about that,’’ said Dr. Jay Butler, director of the swine flu vaccine task force at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Massachusetts, disease specialists are expecting to provide up to 9 million flu inoculations within the next few months, three times as many as last flu season, because of the need to give two doses of swine flu vaccine.
In Boston, the city health agency plans to offer shots during the day, night, and weekend. There is a chance that retired health workers will be pressed into service to provide vaccinations to adults and children, with many patients needing three visits for all their inoculations.
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