Residents: MA vaccine plan frustrating

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WPRI) - Some in the healthcare industry are naming Rhode Island one of the best when it comes to plans to distribute the H1N1 vaccines -- by systematically getting the vaccine to every child in school, while some communities across the country aren't even doing widespread vaccination clinics at all.

In Massachusetts, many are upset at the Bay State's plan to give out the vaccine. Instead of Rhode Island's school-based clinics, Massachusetts is holding H1N1 vaccine clinics based in communities and at local hospitals.

New mom Ann Gaynor considers herself one of the luckier ones in Massachusetts to get the H1N1 vaccine. But as she recovers at Charlton Memorial Hospital, other family members are frustrated because they're still waiting.

"Well, I was kind of hoping everybody in my house could get vaccinated, that [my husband] could get vaccinated, but they're actually having a problem finding it. They said to try my town hall or pediatrician's," said Gaynor.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health refused to return phone calls from Eyewitness News all day Friday.

But Patrick Gannon of the Southcoast Hospitals Group, which owns Charlton, said Friday Massachusetts is only slowly getting deliveries of the H1N1 vaccine -- similar to the situation in other states: "It's slower than what we originally anticipated. And Massachusetts has been prioritizing the highest risk members of our communities," like pregnant women, or hospital workers in direct contact with patients.

A Harvard School of Public Health survey released Friday showed most adults -- 4 out of 10 -- who tried to get swine flu vaccine for themselves or their children have been unable to find it.

"I think everybody's frustrated. We're frustrated," said Southcoast's Gannon. "Even the state is frustrated that the vaccine has just come slower than we would have liked to have it arrive."

So far, Massachusetts has gotten nearly 700,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine, and the shipments are often unpredictable.

Charlton Memorial says they'd like to have public H1N1 vaccination clinics open to everyone -- but it might be December before they can do that.