New Haven Independent

One of them was Lewis Madley — and he was paid to be there. He’s pictured receiving a bandage after Petrice Farrell gave him an H1N1 flu shot Tuesday Tuesday morning at a brightly lit clinic at 54 Meadow St. Both work in the city’s health department.

Another public clinic is scheduled for Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the same location.

Six months ago, residents across Connecticut were clamoring for the shot, many fearful that “swine flu” might pose the catastrophic threat of a killer pandemic.

Now that the shot is apparently abundant, interest seems to have dropped, said Madley, who ran Tuesday’s clinic.

“I’m a little surprised at the light use. When it gets out of the headlines, that has an effect on how urgent the public feels on the need to be vaccinated,” he said.

New Haven has about 4,000 vaccine doses, including 2,000 surplus shots contributed by the Hospital of Saint Raphael, Madley said.

Four men and a pregnant woman either registered for the vaccines or simply appeared at the clinic. Madley was also vaccinated.

“I had been thinking about being vaccinated for quite a while. I’m not in a high-risk group. I waited until now because we were slow,” he said.

Louise Dembry, epidemiologist at Yale- New Haven Hospital, said that flu inoculation still makes sense.

“”It’s not too late to get a flu shot. It’d anybody’s guess when, or if, we’ll have another wave” of flu cases, she said.

“Some years the peak is not until February or March. It’s hard for people to wrap their minds around this,” Dembry said. “People become complacent.”

Since April, 2009, the H1N1 virus has killed about 249 Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lately the number of H1N1 cases appears to be falling. The CDC is launching a National Vaccination Week on Jan. 10; epidemiologists are not sure what course swine flu will take next.

Since April, 2009, and January, 2010, New Haven County has had 1,473 confirmed cases of H1N1, including 10 deaths.

Nationally, since August, there have been 60, 403 cases of H1N1. Those hospitalized for flu has decreased from a high of about 5,000 to fewer than 500.

“There’s plenty of vaccine. Now it’s available for anyone, free,” said New Haven Health Director William Quin . “The supply came in.”

Some of the supply, however, was slightly weaker than expected, especially the longer it was stored, according to the state Department of Public Health.

In December the manufacturer of the nasal spray vaccine, MedImmune, quietly recalled 4.7 million doses because the levels of antigen, which strengthen the body’s immune system, were too low.

Connecticut received 67,400 doses of the recalled vaccine. The vaccine is safe, but may be less effective than planned. MedImmune will notify providers who received the less potent lots of nasal vaccine.

New Haven “received 100 doses of lot #500761P (the lot you asked about) on 11/08, mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said in a written response to questions about the vaccine. “These were all given out before we were notified that these lots were being recalled. We have 10 doses of lot #500757P which were turned in to us from St Raphael’s which we will return. There are no safety concerns and those who received the vaccine should not be revaccinated, the only concern was the potency before their expiration date but we had given ours out immediately.”

In any event, there is probably no need for children to be re-vaccinated, and the vaccine will not cause any unusual harmful effects, Dembry said.

Meanwhile, a host of other non-influenza respiratory viruses remain active, so people should continue to stay home if they are ill, and keep their distance from people who are sneezing or coughing, she said.

Wash hands frequently and cover your mouth and nose if you sneeze or cough, Dembry said.