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General public may have to wait until December for H1N1 flu shot Christmas Kettle volunteers needed The Salvation Army Community Church of Oakville needs volunteers at its nine Christmas Kettle locations in Oakville. Volunteers are asked to work three-hour shifts at a kettle. The annual Kettle Drive, the Salvation Army's largest fundraiser, runs from Nov. 21 to Dec. 24. All money raised goes towards the Salvation Army's Community and Family Services for programming and direct service to those in need in the community. The volunteer opportunity is a chance for individuals, families, community groups and students who need to accumulate community service hours. Those interested can contact local Kettle Co-ordinator Kathy Macdonald at 289-8389163. 7 · Wednesday, November 11, 2009 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Continued from page 1 There have been 42,000 people in Halton vaccinated at the clinics. The Region has also distributed 23,000 doses to local doctors and 4,000 to hospitals. An additional 3,500 doses have been used to vaccinate other health care providers, such as paramedics and staff at long-term care homes. Wait times at the four clinics have significantly dropped, which Nosal said is an indication that most of the high-risk population who wanted the shot has been vaccinated. "There were lower numbers at the clinics on Saturday and Sunday," he said. "The previous weekend, in Oakville, these clinics were seeing almost 2,500 people per day, but on this past weekend, the numbers were 800 on Saturday and 600 on Sunday. With the numbers dropping, we feel we have made immunization available to the vast majority of the priority groups, who wished to get it." Nosal said he is expecting the provincial government to make an announcement shortly about who will get the vaccine next. It will most likely be school-aged children and seniors, he said. These clinics could start as early as Monday. "It will most likely be seniors and kids first," he said. "Right now we are waiting for the Province to make their direction known and waiting for sufficient quantities of vaccine." No date has been set for when the H1N1 vaccination clinics will be open to all members of the general public. Media reports have indicated that it could be December before everyone has access to the clinics. Nosal confirmed this is a possibility. "It could end up being into early December, because if the campaign for the kids and seniors is over a two-week period, that would take us to the end of November," he said. Nosal said the number of possible cases of H1N1 has started to decline in Halton this week, indicating the worst of the outbreak may be over. However, more time is needed to confirm this, he added. "Some of the key indicators do appear to be going down a bit," he said. "For the last two weeks, we were in a peak period. When I look at the percentage of people going to the emergency departments with influenza-like illness, when I look at student absenteeism, there does seem to be a little drop, but we are going to have to monitor it over this week to see if this is going to shoot up again or if it is truly coming down." Approximately 56-58 per cent of Halton schools are reporting absenteeism rates of two per cent or higher due to influenza-like illness. This is down from last week's peak of 70 per cent. There is also a slight decline in hospital admissions, Nosal said. "Last week, there were eight to 10 hospitalizations a day in Halton with influenza-like illness, but the data over the weekend and Monday averaged about five a day," he said. "That's still significant, but it is a drop from last week." Halton had its first H1N1 fatality last week when a woman in her seventies succumbed to the virus. She remained the only fatality as of Tuesday afternoon. Nosal encourages people who do not yet qualify to get the vaccine to continue to practice the key prevention techniques, such as frequent handwashing, coughing into upper sleeves or a tissue, staying home if there are flu-like symptoms and keeping commonlytouched surfaces clean and disinfected. He also suggests people contact their local doctor to see if they are administering the vaccine to high-risk patients. Due to limited vaccine supply, the Province has asked regional health departments to turn away those who are not high-risk at vaccination clinics. Information about H1N1 vaccination clinics can be found online at www.halton.ca or by dialing 311, or calling 905-825-6000, toll free 1-866-442-5866 or TTY 905-827-9833. On the GO? We can help. The UPS Store offers e you more convience th than ever ! ® NEW LOCATION OPENING SOON ! 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