Officials with the state and county health departments unveiled their plans to vaccinate the public for the swine flu virus at the Legislature’s Joint Health Committee meeting Thursday afternoon.

The federal government allocated $30 million this year to the state of Arizona to begin distributing the H1N1 virus vaccine next month, said Will Humble, interim director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The first 900,000 doses of the vaccine, which will arrive in mid-to-late October, will be distributed to the most at-risk segments of the population — toddlers, preschoolers, pregnant women, caretakers of young children and children with severe medical conditions, Humble said.

An estimated 400,000 doses will arrive in the state each week after the original delivery, he said. Mass vaccinations targeting older children will begin at schools and county clinics in November, and healthy adults will be treated in December, he added.

“We’re rolling it out in a way we think will minimize the impact of the disease,” Humble said.

Maricopa County Health Director Bob England stressed the importance of immunizing children, who are not only the most at-risk patients but the biggest carriers of the virus. England and Humble both said they hope to have 80 percent of Arizona’s children immunized this fall.

“If we vaccinate at least 80 percent of children, we ought to be able to decrease the burden of influenza in the entire community by 90 percent,” England said.

The distribution of the vaccine will be left up to the individual counties, he said. England said his department has partnered with private health care providers to distribute the vaccine at schools, and parents will be able to have their children immunized at free clinics across the county.

Immunizations would be completely voluntary, the officials said, which prompted lawmakers to voice their concerns that many people would shy away from getting their children vaccinated.

Rep. Phil Lopes, D-Tucson, said he has gotten numerous e-mails from people concerned about the safety of the vaccine.

“There’s someone out there filling the Internet with all kinds of scare stories, telling people not to get their children immunized,” Lopes said. “So how do we expect to reach that level [of immunization]?”
Humble said clinical trials of the vaccine in Australia have shown it is safe and effective.

“We learned in that clinical trial that the vaccine does not produce side effects any more [severe] than [a] sore arm and mild headaches,” Humble said.

The trials, conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 45 percent of subjects tested experienced side effects ranging from “mild to moderate,” the vast majority being headaches and sore arms.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine on Tuesday.

Statistics show that most people are willing to get their children immunized for childhood diseases such as measles and mumps, Humble said, ­so there is no reason they should distrust health officials on the H1N1 vaccine.

“The fact that we can get to 98 percent immunization level [for standard diseases] by kindergarten demonstrates that most people trust their doctors and the medical community,” Humble said.

England encouraged parents with older, healthy children to also have them immunized. This would keep the disease from spreading to children who are more susceptible to complications.

“It’s a responsibility we owe to each other,” England said.

The state Department of Health Services said the H1N1 virus has killed about 20 Arizonans this year, and that number could skyrocket to 250 this flu season if the state doesn’t act effectively, England said.

“Pandemics come in multiple waves … we had what you’d call a herald wave in the late spring,” England said. “We’ve just had a hint of what’s to come.”

Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.