By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — Targeting will be the key as the Marshall County Health Department gears up for the rush of flu shots for the coming season.
Indiana and Tennessee were among the first states to receive shipments of the H1N1 vaccine that was mostly given to healthcare workers on the first round. Officials predict that the first doses will be available to the public sometime in the next one to two weeks.

“I’ll be able to order vaccine Friday for next week,” said Marshall County Health Department Administrator Wes Burden. “Initially, the focus will be on children and pre-school kids. That appears to be the way the virus is circulating in the community. We want to reduce it in that population.”
Just yesterday, an 11-year-old Clay Intermediate student from South Bend died from suspected influenza complications.
Burden says that the Health Department will initially get vaccine to doctors’ offices and other healthcare providers to assist in the distribution to patients. There are more than 40,000 people in the target group in Marshall County alone.
“One problem is that there will be plenty of vaccine,” said Burden. “But it doesn’t appear we will be getting it all at once.”
According to national news sources, 10 to 20 million doses of the vaccine will be available each week over the next couple of months.
“We’re going to focus on the schools for inoculations first,” said Burden, “Around the middle of November, we will try to have a more public one.”
Burden says that he has not heard of any official study that states a reason why the virus appears to be more likely to be spread among younger adults and children.
“I’ve seen speculation that perhaps older people were exposed to another strain of flu that has made them resistant,” he said. “So far this particular strain (H1N1) has been milder than the normal seasonal flu.”
The Centers for Disease Control report that approximately 36,000 a year die from seasonal flu-related causes. H1N1 related deaths have only been in the hundreds so far.
More information and links related to the H1N1 virus and its prevention are available at the Marshall County Health Depart-ment section of the Marshall County Government Web site at www.co.marshall.in.us.