Swine Flu Vaccine Reaches D.C. Area

High School in Laurel With 100 Absences Is First in Region to Close for Disinfection

Thousands of doses of swine flu vaccine began arriving in the Washington region Tuesday night as a private high school in Laurel became the first in the area to close for disinfection after more than 100 students missed class, many with complaints of illness.

Stephen J. Edmonds, principal and president of St. Vincent Pallotti High School, said there had been five confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza, known as swine flu, among students at the school since the beginning of the school year. Edmonds said about 100 of the school's 500 students missed class Tuesday "for various reasons," including swine flu and seasonal flu.

Because of the high absentee rate, Edmonds ordered the school closed Wednesday to allow professional cleaners to disinfect surfaces touched by students.

"It's just precautionary," Edmonds said. "We want to make sure we provide the safest environment for the students."

Meanwhile, health officials in Maryland, Virginia and the District reported that they had begun receiving the first of nearly 200,000 vaccine doses the three jurisdictions have ordered.

The received doses are a nasal spray that uses a weakened version of the live virus. It is recommended for use only in healthy people ages 2 to 49 and should not be used by pregnant women.

The first doses of the vaccine will largely be used by health-care workers at the greatest risk of exposure to the virus. As more doses arrive, including an injectable version, the vaccine will be made available to other groups, particularly young children, pregnant women and people with underlying health problems.

"It's just the beginning," said Frances Phillips, the deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "This is the first baby step to a sustained marathon."

In Baltimore late Tuesday afternoon, state officials walked a few doses of the vaccine from their offices to Maryland General Hospital and began administering them to health-care workers to show reporters how the spray would be given.

By the end of the week, about 60,500 Maryland residents will receive the vaccine.

"We'll keep pushing out doses until everyone who wants a vaccination gets one," said Greg K. Reed, who runs Maryland's Center for Immunization on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We'll be getting shipments on almost a daily basis."

The CDC estimates that 3.4 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine will be used in Maryland by the first week in January, Reed said.