Syracuse University received 1,000 doses of nasal mist H1N1 vaccine and 2,400 injections of H1N1 vaccine Friday, said Carol Masiclat, an SU Health Services spokeswoman.

A clinic will be held Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. in Flanagan Gymnasium to distribute 500 doses of the nasal mist to SU and State University of New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry students. Another clinic will be held on Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to distribute 1,000 doses of the vaccine shots.

The remaining 500 nasal mist vaccines and 1,400 shots will be distributed at yet-to-be scheduled clinics before Winter Break. Health Services is spreading out the distribution of the vaccines to make clinics manageable for Health Services employees and to provide students who may be busy during one clinic other opportunities to get the vaccine, Masiclat said.

Students interested in receiving the nasal mist vaccine will be able to get a ticket at the Schine Box Office Wednesday starting at 9 a.m. The tickets will provide the students with a one-hour block during which they can get vaccinated Thursday. Tickets for Friday’s clinic will be distributed in Goldstein Auditorium. They will also provide one-hour blocks. Students cannot choose which hour block they get, but tickets are transferable, so students can trade tickets with someone who has the time they want, Masiclat said.

SU received 200 doses of the nasal mist vaccine for students Nov. 17 and 200 doses of nasal mist for Health Services employees and people who work with children Nov. 7. The reason for the significant increase in the amount of vaccine shipped to the university is a recently announced initiative by New York Gov. David Paterson to get more New York state college students vaccinated before Winter Break, Masiclat said.

The state will be ‘undertaking special efforts to vaccinate college students’ by making sure more doses of vaccine will be shipped to colleges, according to a news release issued by the governor’s office Friday.

‘The nation as a whole is experiencing a slight decrease in H1N1 flu activity,’ said State Health Commissioner Richard Daines in the release. ‘But New York is experiencing widespread H1N1 flu activity, just slightly decreased compared with last week.’

The American College Health Association noted that influenza-like illness, a category that includes seasonal and swine flu, has been decreasing on college campuses since the week of Nov. 14. It dropped by 37 percent that week from the previous week, according to the ACHA’s weekly study of flu activity at more than 250 colleges across the country.

During the following week of Nov. 21, flu activity dropped by 69 percent. These data may be affected by the fact that students were on Thanksgiving break the week of Nov. 21 and did not seek treatment from their college’s health services, according to the study. The ACHA attributed the drop in overall flu activity to a drop in swine flu activity.

Likewise, SU has seen a drop in the number of cases of influenza-like illness, Masiclat said. Since Aug. 31, when Health Services began tracking flu activity on campus, 498 students have been diagnosed with an influenza-like illness, Masiclat said. This past Friday and Saturday, for the first time since Aug. 31, no flu tests were administered and no student was diagnosed with an influenza-like illness, she said.

This comes after a steady decline in the number of cases throughout November. The week of Nov. 5 to 11, 80 students were diagnosed with influenza-like illnesses. During the week of Nov. 12 to 18, that number dropped to 36. Cases continued to drop to 30 the week of Nov. 19 to 25.

The week of Thanksgiving break, from Nov. 26 until Thursday, Health Services only saw four cases of influenza-like illness.

Because of the decline, students are expressing less concern over swine flu than they have in the past.

While she never planned on getting vaccinated, Alison Grimes, a junior Spanish major, said she is less likely to get vaccinated now that swine flu is on the decline.

‘It hasn’t really affected me at all. I don’t know anybody who’s gotten it,’ she said. ‘Now, we still hear about it, but I am less scared than before. Time has gone by.’

The vaccination clinic held Nov. 20 after the first 200 doses of swine flu vaccine for students arrived did not generate as much interest as expected, Masiclat said. While all the vaccines were distributed, the demand for them was not as high as Health Services originally anticipated, and tickets for the clinic took more than an hour to run out. One possible reason for this could be less student concern, she said.

‘At this point in the season, almost everyone knows someone who had it,’ Masiclat said. ‘Maybe that takes away some of the fear of it, but we do want students to remain concerned and to take care of themselves.’

rhkheel@syr.edu

Published on December 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm