Staff Photo by Tim Barber -- Teresa Hart, left, records information for her grandson, Parker Yim, 2, before he gets an H1N1 vaccination at Eastgate Town Center this morning. His father, Ramy Yim, second from left, waits with his two children. The baby, second from right, is Baylor Yim, 6 months.
Every year Courtney Humphreys' whole family gets flu shots, and every year they bypass getting the respiratory illness.
"I'm a firm believer that it works because none of us has ever had it," said Mrs. Humphreys, a nurse of 11 years and mother of two small children.
Mrs. Humphreys was among hundreds of Chattanooga residents who went to Eastgate Town Center on Saturday where the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department administered H1N1 nasal spray vaccinations.
Health department officials expected to give more than 500 vaccinations over the weekend. It initially had about 1,000 available. Another shipment of 1,500 vaccinations arrived within the past week, said Jennifer Yim, the department's public information officer.
Health department staff will make appointments for callers to the telephone hot line at the health department as long as vaccinations are available, Mrs. Yim said. Targeted people are encouraged to make appointments.
The H1N1 flu mist so far has been reserved for those target groups, but "eventually there will be enough vaccine available for anyone who wants it," she said.
An injection version of the vaccination will be available soon, health department officials said.
Response for getting the H1N1 vaccination initially was slow, said Deb Sardin, health department clinic manager.
However, there has been a significant increase in people inquiring about it since news reports highlighted H1N1 leading to area school closings and deaths.
Seven children in Tennessee have died from the H1N1 virus, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. The latest death was on Oct. 4 of Nathan Stone, of Crossville, a 4-year-old Cumberland County boy who died after being in the hospital for two weeks.
However, skeptcism about the vaccine persists. More than a third of parents are not giving permission for their children to receive the vaccination because of concerns about side effects, The Associated Press reported.
Mrs. Sardin, who worked at health clinic Saturday, said she hasn't heard any complaints.
Amanda Jones, who works in the emergency room at T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital, said she hopes that all the staff at the hospital get vaccinated for their own sakes and for the welfare of others.
"If they're out sick, that means less staff, and it makes it harder on everyone," she said.
People who get vaccinated protect themselves and decrease the possibility of spreading the virus from themselves to someone who has more fragile health, Ms. Yim said.
Mrs. Humphreys said her family's health is a testament to the effectiveness of flu vaccines.
Her son Christian Humphreys, 9, is the only child in his third-grade class at Silverdale Baptist Academy not to have missed school because of illness. Her 6-year-old daughter, Savannah, has asthma and an ear infection, but she never gets the flu.
"I'm brave," Savannah said Saturday while waiting her turn in line. "I get the flu (vaccination) so I won't get sick."
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
In Chattanooga:
* Those 2 to 24 years old
* Those 25 to 49 years old who live with or care for infants younger than 6 months or are health care or emergency medical personnel.
In North Georgia:
Those 2-4 years old
WHO HAS IT
* Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department: 423-209-8393
* Catoosa County Health Department: 706-935-6322
* Dade County Health Department: 706-657-4213
* Walker County Health Department: 706-764-1219
* Gordon County Health Department: 706-624-1444
* Chattooga County Health Department: 706-638-5577
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I lived through all the major Flu epidemics in North America in the last fifty years, including two deadly ones that swept through Vancouver, BC, a port city with millions of immigrants from Asia and visitors passing through every year. Also, I survived living in Southern California (LA areas) where millions travel in and out of the state every year. Millions more cross the border with diseases like TB which we haven't seen here in years. I rarely have even mild symptoms of a cold and haven't the influenza virus all these decades. This is no coincidence either.
How have I and many others survived without vaccines, pharma drugs and "Experts" lecturing us that they know everything we should do and implying that we know nothing? (Their 'premises' and studies change every 2-5 years).
It's so simple yet most have lost the knowledge and common sense techniques our MDs who knew us well and our ancestors who had to survive without a doctor nearby knew. You live and eat a simple, healthy diet from childhood, to strengthen your immune system (babies who are breastfed have already been innoculated naturally); you listen to your own unique body and what it is telling you, use the incredible pharmacy in nature-straight from the source is best-that was given to us in Eden.
As one who has worked in Health Care for decades, I have yet to see a drug that hasn't produced deleterious side effects and many that the FDA had to pull off the market after 'experts' assured us it was safe. We are the most over-drugged, dependent society on the earth. Most of our drugs and the ingredients are manufactured overseas now, including the recent vaccine ingredients like squalene (that this article forgot to tell us about) which is made in China, others in Europe or Central America.
I would never trust this gov't or the FDA, who admitted not inspecting those factories for years. This distrust by many of us is why an official in the WH administration recently stated that all Americans would eventually be mandated (read forced) to have a vaccination.
Our Creator in all His wisdom did not put a pharmacy or manufacture drugs in the Garden. He put only the best there, taught us how to apply that wisdom and gently reminds us to this day. He cares. CDC and the WH? No way.
**Ask and research how many Drs and RNs are vaccinating themselves and their own families. The facts are very interesting. ***My family has many generations of physicians and Health care professionals. Not one is a god.