Flu shots: They're not just for old folks anymore.
Federal, state and local health departments are telling anyone who still has flu vaccine that they can give shots to whomever they'd like.
Last fall, when half the nation's supply of flu shots was locked up amid fears of contamination, the state and federal governments told flu shot providers to give vaccine only to people who were at high risk of developing flu-related complications. That mostly meant people 65 and older, the very young and chronically ill.
Their requests worked so well, the demand dried up before the supply of vaccine did.
"It looks like we have vaccine out there that people are not demanding right now, as bizarre as that seems when you remember what it was like back in October," when senior citizens waited for hours in the cold to get flu shots, said Guillermo Cole, spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department.
Horror stories of seniors standing in mile-long lines for shots, coupled with a mild flu season, probably kept many people away from the clinics, said Bonnie Herbert, spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This doesn't mean people overreacted to the shortage, said Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the state Department of Health. The approximately 2 million shots that made it to Pennsylvania this year fell about a half-million short of what the state usually gets, he said, so it was important to make sure those most at risk received shots first.
Most health care providers don't have much, if any, vaccine left, he said. The Visiting Nurse Foundation, which received about 3,000 flu shots, will try to sell its last 720 doses at two public clinics in the next week.
Flu season might be peaking in Allegheny County, Cole said. In the past two weeks, the county recorded 123 suspected and confirmed flu cases. That's more than the 97 cases in the two preceding weeks, but the spread of the virus is slower than in early January. In all, 310 cases have been recorded in the county, compared to 696 at this time last year.
It takes up to two weeks from the time of vaccination to build an immunity to the flu.
Flu season lasts from October to April, McGarvey said, and "you could be that person who doesn't get the flu until March."
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Flu shots for saleNow that the Pennsylvania Department of Health has relaxed its guidelines on who may get flu shots, the Visiting Nurse Foundation is selling its remaining 720 doses of vaccine to anyone 9 years old and up who has $21. The foundation has scheduled two public clinics:
Green Tree -- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Shop 'n Save, 2301 Noblestown Road
Downtown -- 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 10, U.S. Steel Tower auditorium
