While hundreds of Americans wait in long lines hoping for the H1N1 vaccine, news that hard to find vaccines are available to workers on Wall Street was not well received.
NBC reports New York Stock Exchange Traders and bankers with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have access to the vaccine. The New York City Department of Health reports Sachs has received 200 doses.
Dr. John Finnegan, Dean of the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health says the corporations must have won the lottery like other medical centers who have received doses. "They would have been much better off to have simply said let's send those doses to the hospitals and clinics," he said.
Finnegan has been tracking the distribution of the doses in Minnesota and the rest of the country. "The real concern is the supply of the vaccine. Is it going to be adequate? Is it going to get delivered? Are we going to keep our eye on the ball and make sure it gets to the right people?" he wondered aloud Thursday.
"It's an agonizing situation to be in. It's a very, very high demand and a very scarce supply," Patsy Stinchfield said. Stinchfield is the Director for Infectious Disease at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. She notes the system's identified 10,000 kids who are in the high risk category, yet the hospital was lucky to receive about 4,000 doses of the vaccine so far.
"Our job right now is to identify the highest risk, not even just the high risk. We are really looking at the highest risk, kids who have multiple diagnoses," she explained.
Finnegan says we are starting to see an increase in the supply right now, though it is still far behind the demand.
A spokesperson with the Minnesota Department of Health says it has not distributed any vaccines to any corporations, adding there is no reason to. A few weeks ago, the department reported it had about 20% of the doses it needed for the "highest risk," but now says it has jumped over the 50% mark in ordered doses.
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