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Local Seniors in a Scramble
By Dawn Mackeen
October 13, 2004
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Each year around this time, Ruth Reiss rolls up her sleeve and receives the flu shot from her primary care physician. And she believes it has protected her from influenza. "I'm an old lady and I really feel that I need it," said Reiss, who lives in Long Beach. "I'm afraid. I would feel much more comfortable if I got it."
Across Long Island, seniors and other at-risk patients are worried about not receiving their flu shots. In Nassau County, the program that vaccinated 17,000 to 20,000 people at community sites last year hasn't begun. More than 200 calls a day are coming in to the Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs inquiring about vaccine availability.
"The county is trying to come up with vaccine so we can hold as many of those [clinics] as possible," said Carolyn Acerra, spokeswoman for Nassau's Department of Senior Citizen Affairs. "Each day we come in and look to see if there's any new information."
Suffolk County's Department of Health ran out of vaccine yesterday after nine flu clinics had been held. Yesterday's, at a senior nutrition site in Huntington, vaccinated 1,043 people.
"People are really upset; they think they are going to die," said Roberta Monat, director of Long Island's Jewish Association for Services for the Aged.
The state Department of Health, which had ordered an estimated 250,000 doses, has received only 75,000 so far and has yet to hear how many doses it will receive under the allocation program announced by federal officials yesterday.
Pediatrician Salvatore Caravella's supply has dwindled to nothing. When his Huntington practice used up the last of its estimated 700 doses yesterday morning, parents with afternoon appointments for their infants weren't too pleased.
"People are aware there are shortages but we're still getting some upset folks. 'Why is my baby not getting it when Mrs. Jones' baby is?'" he said.
Nedra Eagle of North Babylon said people had stood in line for flu shots at the Waldbaum's in Deer Park yesterday for more than three hours. "Most of them are elderly," she said. "There are people who can barely walk." Eagle was accompanying her husband, Michael, 60, who has a heart condition and is considered at high risk. He received his shot. A Waldbaum's spokesman could not be reached for comment.
And in upstate Williamsville, four people were treated by paramedics yesterday after passing out during a lengthy wait at a flu shot clinic, The Associated Press reported.
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