Howard County has canceled all scheduled flu inoculation clinics because of the national shortage of vaccine, county health officer Dr. Penny Borenstein has announced.
The county received only 10 percent of the vaccine supply expected, she said, so residents are being advised to practice prevention by avoiding close contact with people who are sick, covering mouths and nose with a tissue when coughing and sneezing, and by washing hands often to protect from germs.
The only people who should seek vaccinations from private health providers are those 65 or older; those with serious chronic medical conditions; pregnant women; health care workers; children from 6 months to 23 months; children younger than 18 on chronic aspirin therapy; out-of-home caregivers; and those who care for infants younger than 6 months old.
County health workers will have pneumococcal vaccines for prevention of pneumonia, not the flu, at today's 50 Plus Expo at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia.
