Letter of the day: Don't burden clinics giving H1N1 shots with a new crisis

Last update: November 16, 2009 - 10:26 AM

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A Nov. 3 Star Tribune editorial claims that although the amount of H1N1 vaccine is modest, medical clinics should go public with their supply information. The premise is that if patients know that hundreds of clinics have received the vaccine, fears over the flu shot shortage will be significantly defused. However ,the writer is underestimating other problems that would arise if clinics announced when they received shipments of the vaccine. The clinics are doing their best to distribute the vaccine to the right people. As soon as their shipments arrive, the staff are calling patients with the highest risk and telling them the shot is available. By making this information public, it would likely just cause a stampede of customers wanting the vaccine and, as stated in the article, many would be at low risk for flu complications. This would just cause more problems for the clinics, making it more difficult to concentrate on the high-risk patients and even patients with other problems not related to H1N1.

DAVID HAUGE, ST. CLOUD

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