By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

Doses of the H1N1 vaccine meant for Cleburne firefighters will instead benefit Cleburne ISD students.

“I ordered them through the state, which is the only way to get them,” said Cleburne Fire Chief Clint Ishmael. “We’re high on the list because of our health care worker status.”

When the doses arrived 10 days ago, CFD officials decided instead to donate them to CISD, Ishmael said.

CFD will administer the shots and hopes to begin distributing them in the next few days, Ishmael said.

The department made the decision based on a shortage of the vaccine, he said.

“All we have is 30 doses, which isn’t going to make a dent,” Ishmael said. “But we’re working with the school trying to identify those students with underlying health problems. I’m hoping to place another order so we can cover those kids and any others who are wanting the shot.”

As more doses become available, others, including firefighters, will be covered, Ishmael said.

For now, it makes more sense to distribute them to students first, he said.

“At the present time, given the shortage of the vaccine, I think this is the better idea,” Ishmael said. “Kids are more vulnerable to it, especially those who have underlying medical problems. The flu attacks the respiratory system, which for kids in that group, can make them gravely ill, maybe even die.”

Ishmael said he’s not sure why there’s a shortage of the vaccine.

“Production is slower than anticipated or the flu made a reappearance quicker than expected is probably what happened,” Ishmael said. “It ramped up so quick they haven’t been able to keep up with demand.”

Vaccines should become available to more people once the needs of priority groups as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are met, Ishmael said.

Those priority groups include pregnant women, caregivers for children younger than six months, health care and EMS personnel and persons older than 24 with high risk health conditions.

Subgroups include children six months to 4 years old and children 5-18 who have high risk health conditions.

Those people, Ishmael said, should check with their doctor for availability.

“We sent a survey to our families last week to see, if we have the vaccine available, how many kids they have in their family,” said Tim Miller, CISD assistant superintendent for education programs. “We’ve received most of the surveys back, but we’re still waiting on data from four campuses. Once we get everything, we’ll get with Chief Ishmael and look at which groups we can provide for.”

Those groups include children 6-59 months old and two groups of school-age children, those with underlying health issues and those without.

“From what we’ve got so far, there’s definitely a demand,” Miller said. “It’s just a matter of what we can get.”

Should CFD be successful in obtaining additional doses, CISD will work to address the needs of as many children and students as possible, Miller said.

If more are not available they will concentrate on those students with underlying health issues who have not already received the vaccine through their own health provider, he said.

The county recently received several doses for seven county volunteer fire departments that requested them, said Joey Reed, executive director of the Johnson County Emergency Services District 1.

“We got 50,” Reed said. “We requested more, but that’s what we got. We’re planning to get them out next week. We’ve had requests from families and individuals. But it’s our understanding that volunteer first responders, that’s who we could request them for.

“That’s who we’re going to delegate ours to because it’s my understanding that since our first responders come into contact with people with the flu that that’s how we were able to get the doses.”

Burleson Fire Chief Gary Wisdom said his department received the nasal spray form of the H1N1 vaccine from Tarrant County for use by the department at their discretion. Any leftover vaccines will be returned to Tarrant County, Wisdom said.