
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 7, 1994                   TAG: 9411070075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VACCINE SUPPLY USED UP

More than 300 angry people had to be turned away from the Roanoke Health Department after it ran out of hepatitis vaccine Sunday.

Another clinic to give the shots will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. today at the city Parks and Recreation Department at 210 Reserve Ave. More clinics will be scheduled until everyone who needs a shot has been given one.

An employee of a Roanoke Dairy Queen has been diagnosed with the illness. More than 1,000 customers of the restaurant have lined up for the shots, nearly exhausting the state's supply, said Dr. Molly Rutledge, acting director of the Roanoke Health Department.

Customers who patronized the Dairy Queen on Orange Avenue at Gus Nicks Boulevard between Oct. 24 and 29 need vaccinations to protect them from hepatitis A.

For patrons who ate there between Oct. 15 and 24, it's too late to be protected by a shot, Rutledge said, and those people should watch for the symptoms of the illness: nausea, fatigue and loss of appetite.

"If you get [a shot] after 14 days, it's no good," she said.

One thing working in the public's favor is that the Dairy Queen had "great" hand-washing requirements for employees, which can help prevent spread of the disease, she said. Rutledge said she had heard that one other person may be being evaluated for hepatitis, but she hadn't confirmed that.

There is only one manufacturer of the vaccine, and that company used most of its supply recently for military personnel going overseas. The Roanoke Health Department had to scramble to collect all the doses it could find in the area, and a Richmond pharmacist is rounding up more.

The line of people waiting for shots Sunday stretched three blocks, and Rutledge said people were "violently angry" when the department had to turn them away. She apologized to the public and said she will seek federal help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to round up more doses today.

By the time everyone has been vaccinated, she predicts, the department will have used 2,000 doses. The department normally keeps 20 in each of its clinic refrigerators, and private doctors probably keep even fewer on hand, she said.

by CNB