El Paso Leaders Tackle Swine Flu

El Paso - - - The El Paso Health Department will get the help it needs to provide free Swine Flu vaccinations.

In a 6-2 vote, the City Council approved a $500,000 contract for a company to provide temporary nursing staff.

The money can be used to hire up to 25 workers to staff city immunization clinics.

The city also approved $250,000 if the workers are needed longer than expected.

The council decision is good timing because the Swine Flu is spreading.

At a Denver hospital, a concerned mom worries her daughter might have H1N1...

"She's been throwing up all night, and she hasn't really ate for 5 days, and she's getting worse."

Outside St. Louis, the Jefferson County School District is completely shut down after almost a quarter of students called in sick...

"Once you dismiss the students, you need to do it for about five to seven days, get everything disinfected, give the kids time to heal, give the staff time to heal."

CDC experts report five more pediatric deaths from Swine Flu so even in the week where the injectable vaccine is finally being sent out, worries over Swine Flu are spreading almost as quickly as the virus.
H1N1 has reached epidemic levels in the U.S. and today, more than 45% of adults hospitalized with the virus have no underlying conditions.

"It is sobering that some totally healthy people suffer this very rapid deterioration from the H1N1,that is not usual presentation but it can happen,and as it spreads across the country the number of people suffering from that have been increasing."

The vaccine will still go to at-risk groups first. The first shot doses should be arriving now, and could be widely distributed by the end of the month. But anyone with severe symptoms should see a doctor right away.

While seasonal flu remains a concern, most cases are now of the H1N1 variety.