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CNN Live Saturday
Flu Widespread in All 50 States
Aired December 13, 2003 - 18:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In most years, health officials usually have to remind Americans to get flu shots. Well, this year, people are desperate to get the vaccine, but some are being turned away. Early cases of severe flue are reported in all 50 states. The flu is widespread in about half the country. Across the nation, people are in long lines hoping from a shot from the dwindling supply of doses still available. CNN's Elaine Quijano reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They may not under the reasons ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little bit hurt but it is already fine now.
QUIJANO: But for their parents, the flu vaccine is priority one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am very concerned about the number of children that have succumbed to the flue this year.
QUIJANO: At this Washington, DC health fair planned months ago, officials hadn't counted on people lining up two hours before they opened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then the food outbreak happened. And the shortages occurred. And all of sudden the flue vaccine sort of seem to be a pivotal point of what was happening here.
QUIJANO: Outside Orlando, Florida, it was a similar scene with people waiting to get their shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody paying cash can come here.
QUIJANO: And in Texas, officials at Dallas County Health and Human Services have pulled staffers from other departments to assist in the vaccinations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is what has really helped out, in terms of our various communicable disease clinic nurses, they have all volunteered their time in the evening as well as on the weekends to help out, because they consider this public health emergency.
QUIJANO (on camera): Officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention say the flue outbreak has hit hard in 24 states. There are cases in all 50 states. And while they do say it is serious, health officials are not calling it an epidemic yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not the plague. And this is not SARS. And this is not something that I think people have to come running and everyone has to have a flue vaccine.
QUIJANO (voice-over): Officials at the US Department of Health and Human Services say they have ordered an extra 250,000 vaccines, 100,000 adult doses to be delivered to states this weekend and 150,000 children's doses by January. For now, some health officials say they will reserve the vaccine they do have for children 6 to 23 months, people 65 and older and others considered at higher risk. Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 13, 2003 - 18:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In most years, health officials usually have to remind Americans to get flu shots. Well, this year, people are desperate to get the vaccine, but some are being turned away. Early cases of severe flue are reported in all 50 states. The flu is widespread in about half the country. Across the nation, people are in long lines hoping from a shot from the dwindling supply of doses still available. CNN's Elaine Quijano reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They may not under the reasons ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little bit hurt but it is already fine now.
QUIJANO: But for their parents, the flu vaccine is priority one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am very concerned about the number of children that have succumbed to the flue this year.
QUIJANO: At this Washington, DC health fair planned months ago, officials hadn't counted on people lining up two hours before they opened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then the food outbreak happened. And the shortages occurred. And all of sudden the flue vaccine sort of seem to be a pivotal point of what was happening here.
QUIJANO: Outside Orlando, Florida, it was a similar scene with people waiting to get their shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody paying cash can come here.
QUIJANO: And in Texas, officials at Dallas County Health and Human Services have pulled staffers from other departments to assist in the vaccinations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is what has really helped out, in terms of our various communicable disease clinic nurses, they have all volunteered their time in the evening as well as on the weekends to help out, because they consider this public health emergency.
QUIJANO (on camera): Officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention say the flue outbreak has hit hard in 24 states. There are cases in all 50 states. And while they do say it is serious, health officials are not calling it an epidemic yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not the plague. And this is not SARS. And this is not something that I think people have to come running and everyone has to have a flue vaccine.
QUIJANO (voice-over): Officials at the US Department of Health and Human Services say they have ordered an extra 250,000 vaccines, 100,000 adult doses to be delivered to states this weekend and 150,000 children's doses by January. For now, some health officials say they will reserve the vaccine they do have for children 6 to 23 months, people 65 and older and others considered at higher risk. Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
