BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Fewer than 4,000 doses of swine flu vaccine have been doled out to Louisiana patients. That’s less than one-20th of the amount of vaccine that has been shipped to health care providers.
State Health Officer Jimmy Guidry provided the numbers Monday. He says the delay is largely a timing one.
The first shipments of vaccine against the virus have been sent directly to doctor’s offices and private providers who then call the patients currently eligible to receive vaccines, mainly children. Appointments must be made and attended for the vaccine to be administered.
Guidry says he expects the numbers of vaccinated Louisiana residents to pick up sharply in the coming weeks.
Louisiana’s death toll from the H1N1 virus, commonly called swine flu, has risen to 24, with four new deaths confirmed by the state health department Monday.
 
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