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News Release

Last modified: Friday, November 6, 2009

H1N1 vaccine reservations at IU Bloomington go smoothly; slots filling fast

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 6, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana University Bloomington's online reservation system for employees and students eligible to receive the initial round of H1N1 vaccine logged 1,650 reservations in just over five hours Friday (Nov. 6).

The IU Health Center reservation system went active at approximately 9:30 a.m. and by 3 p.m. more than one-third of the 5,760 available reservation slots were taken. Health Center Medical Director Diana Ebling, M.D., said the process was running smoothly and that expectations were high that all slots would soon be filled.

"We have been very pleased by the number of people that have already reserved their H1N1 vaccination by using the new online registration site. This indicates to us that many people want to get this vaccination," she said. "Again, I would encourage all who are eligible to go to the Web sites we've provided to reserve their shot. As stated earlier, when the vaccine is available we will be e-mailing each individual the specific date they can receive the vaccine."

Those eligible are reserving a 10-minute time slot between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in Week One or Week Two of the anticipated vaccination effort. Those with reservations will then receive an e-mail when the vaccine arrives that confirms the actual calendar date for their vaccination. Once the vaccine does arrive and available amounts are determined, the Health Center would add additional weeks allowing for more reservations to be made.

IU employees and students eligible to make reservations are pregnant women, households with children younger than six months of age, students and employees through age 24, health care and emergency medical services personnel, and people 25-64 with a chronic medical condition that creates a higher risk for complications.

High risk complications include chronic pulmonary conditions (including asthma), cardiovascular conditions (except hypertension), renal, hepatic, cognitive, neurological/neuromuscular, hemotologic, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus), and immunosuppression (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by human immunodeficiency virus).

Those meeting the criteria but who also have a serious egg allergy, had a reaction to a previous flu vaccine or experienced Guillain-Barré Syndrome within six weeks of the vaccination date are not eligible for the vaccine.

To reach the reservation service, users need to visit either the IU Bloomington home page at https://www.iub.edu/, the IU Health Center home page at https://healthcenter.indiana.edu/ or the Health Center page in OneStart at https://onestart.iu.edu/ (See "Health Center" in left side menu under the "Campus" tab). Once there, users will be able to access the reservation service by clicking on the "Free H1N1 Vaccinations" icon.

For more information or to speak with Dr. Ebling, please contact Steve Chaplin, University Communications, at 812-856-1896 or stjchap@indiana.edu.

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