GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER EAMON FLUHARTY DOESN’T LOOK VERY HAPPY AS HE GETS HIS SEASONAL FLU SHOT AT THE MARIPOSA COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT’S FLU CLINIC LAST WEEK. THE DEPARTMENT GAVE 400 SHOTS DURING ITS LAST SEASONAL FLU CLINIC OF THE SEASON. Mariposa County Health Department personnel are working at a furious pace as the first of the H1N1 influenza vaccine is hitting the streets through a series of clinics. The first such event took place on Tuesday afternoon.

Dr. Charles Mosher, the county’s public health officer, gave the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors an update on the progress and activities of his department as they relate to the flu. He characterized the virus at “pandemic” stage and said three people in Mariposa County had been hospitalized because of complications of the virus. One of those was a teenager, and one has been in intensive care.

GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER THE LINE FOR SEASONAL FLU SHOTS SNAKED THROUGH BUILDING A AT THE FAIRGROUNDS AND EXTENDED WELL INTO THE PARKING LOT. THIS WAS NOT THE LARGEST TURNOUT, HOWEVER, AS THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT GAVE MORE THAN 750 SHOTS ON OCT. 13. The health department has been working closely with the Mariposa County Unified School District to monitor absentee rates. Dr. Mosher said that rates have been dropping in the past two weeks. For a couple weeks in early and mid-October, Mariposa County High School and Mariposa Middle School were seeing as many as 25 percent of their percent of their student body absent with flu-like illness. It is not known exactly how many children actually had H1N1.

Dr. Mosher did say, however, that anyone who had the flu in the recent past most likely had H1N1. “That’s the only virus out there,” he said of state and national testing rates.

The difference between seasonal influenza and H1N1 appears to be the groups who are most at risk for complications and serious illness. For seasonal flu, older people are most at risk. The H1N1 virus targets young people.

“It is clearly brutal in children,” Dr. Mosher told the board. The death rate for children with the flu is double what it was in California last year, Mosher said. The real start of “flu season” isn’t even here yet.

“We’re gearing up for the next phase,” Dr. Mosher said of his department’s work. That phase includes a comprehensive schedule of vaccine clinics throughout November. “It will be quite consuming,” Dr. Mosher said. Six nurses have been “brought out of retirement” to help with the clinics, as well as numerous volunteers. All health department staff has put other projects on “the back burner,” Dr. Mosher said, until the vaccine distribution process is complete.

Getting enough vaccine for everyone who wants it may be tricky. “We are at the mercy of the federal government,” Mosher said of the vaccine supply. “It’s not coming at the rate they said it would.”

Even so, the County held its first clinic on Tuesday and distributed 240 vaccinations to children and adults. Dr. Mosher said on Wednesday morning that the department was prepared to handle more than that and expects to do so on Friday.

Right now, the H1N1 clinics are being offered to those in the top three at-risk groups. The first group is caretakers of children under six months of age, since those babies cannot be vaccinated. This includes household members and daycare providers.

The second at-risk group is emergency medical and “front line” health care workers. “We need these folks on the job,” Dr. Mosher said. The third priority is on pregnant women or those who will be pregnant during flu season and children and young adults, ages six months to 24-years-old.

The Nov. 6 clinic at the fairgrounds is specific to these three groups. It will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. A similar clinic targeting the same groups is set for Nov. 12 from 9 to 11 a.m., also at the fairgrounds.

The Coulterville and Greeley Hill clinics scheduled for Nov. 13 add the fourth risk group of people ages 25 to 64 with chronic health problems such as lung disease or heart problems, diabetes or immune system disorders. The top three risk groups are also included.

Two more Mariposa clinics are set for the top four groups. The first will be Sunday, Nov. 15 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the fairgrounds. The second is Tuesday, Nov. 17 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the same location.

Three clinics that are open to everyone are planned for Nov. 19 and 20. The first will be in Mariposa on Nov. 19 at the fairgrounds from 9 a.m. to noon. Yosemite Medical Clinic will host a clinic from 10 to 11 a.m. on Nov. 20, before health department personnel travel to Wawona for a 2 to 3 p.m. clinic on the same day.

Dr. Mosher said supply and demand may come into play as the clinics progress. “We really hope that the public will cooperate and be patient,” he said.

Dr. Mosher added that getting the vaccination is important, regardless of some of the media hype that indicates fears about using it. He said the safety of the dose is equal to that of the seasonal flu vaccine.

“The disease is a much larger risk than the vaccine,” Dr. Mosher told the board.