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Health Officials Want Better Vaccine Monitoring

Clinics Complete Vaccine Program At 18 Schools So Far

POSTED: 4:56 pm HST November 19, 2009

While Hawaii is still not seeing extremely high numbers of H1N1 flu cases, officials want doctors to do a better job on paperwork.

Health officials complained that some doctors are doing a poor job of reporting how much vaccine they are giving out.

"We're still behind in terms of communication, anecdotal. We get calls from people providers out there saying they need vaccine, but on the other hand we're not getting documentation on where vaccine is needed," Park said.

When providers do not send in paperwork, it slows the process of vaccination for everyone because they don't know how much has been used and how much is left, health officials said.

"We continue to be at a somewhat baseline to elevated level of flu activity so for knock on wood. We have a little breathing room there continues to be activity on many states in the mainland so we're watching that closely," state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said.

Health officials said, so far, they have completed 18 school clinics.

More than 4,000 students have received the vaccine. The clinics continue this week on Oahu before moving to the neighbor islands.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a campaign to urge travelers not get on plane is they are ill or have had a fever in the past 24 hours. They suggested travelers take carry-on-sized soap and hand cleaners.

"We want travelers to recognize that prevention can be travel sized and have a happy and healthy travel season," said Tai-Ho Chen, of the CDC.

The CDC does have people monitoring travelers at the Honolulu International Airport. The workers have been in place since the bird flu scare in 2005. They are checking most international travelers.

Health officials said a 5-year-old boy from Samoa died at Kapiolani Medical Center last week of complications from the H1N1 flu. He had been ill for a month and was flown to Oahu for specialized treatment not available in Samoa.

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