was katrina a republican or democrat issue? a health issue? it became a "hate bush issue." and is to this day.
HYPOCRITES!

booch11: The production of vaccine has nothing to do with the president, no matter which one you mention. On another note, all of the higher-risk criteria are also the ones that exclude certain people from receiving the intranasal vaccine (nasal mist). There are also age limits on nasal mist: Patients can be no younger than 2 and no older than 49. Due to an extreme shortage of injectable vaccine for H1N1, many of those needing the vaccine most are unable to obtain it just yet (because the intranasal vaccine is not safe for them to utilize).

PS- If they rush an untested vaccine through, you'd complain. If they take their time and do it right, you complain it's not fast enough. So if you want a safe, effective vaccine, you have to let them do it properly. Scientists have done a remarkable job in only six months of typing this flu and getting a vaccine out. It's the unpredictability of viruses you need to worry about.

Booch11: Influenza is not a Republican or Democrat thing! It is a virus that goes around EVERY SINGLE YEAR, this just happens to be an unusual strain we don't have immunity to. EVERY SINGLE YEAR thousands of people die of regular seasonal influenza, and many of them had an underlying medical condition. The vast majority of people who get this just feel crummy for a few days and recover fully. The hysteria surrounding this is a joke and inexcusable, wherever it is coming from.

Can you imagine the outcry if George W. Bush was president and this many people were dying? Can you imagine the outcry if a simple vaccination was bungled this badly with a Republican president?
More people have died due to the lack of a vaccination that died in Katrina.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE IN THE AGE OF OBAMA?????????

Well people I think we need to just all relax and keep washing them hands and follow what orders they keep repeating on the news as the best advise to fight against this flu, I myself have diabetes , sleep apnia , and other underlying problems but i am not trying to kick down doors to get a flu shot, when it gets here it gets here.

From the CDC:

Healthcare personnel should be informed about and aware of the types of underlying conditions that may put them at higher risk of complications. In addition to pregnant women, those at higher risk for complications of 2009 H1N1 influenza include the following: those with a variety of chronic medical conditions (examples include asthma, sickle cell disease, and diabetes mellitus); people with immunosuppression caused by medications or disease; those with disorders such as neuromuscular disease that compromise respiratory function or handling of respiratory secretions or increase the risk of aspiration; those younger than 19 years of age who are on chronic aspirin therapy; and those 65 years of age or older.

hannah, you misunderstand. I did NOT state that they should list the underlying condition any person who has died had. I said they should make a different article which talks about all the underlying conditions that can put a person into the high-risk group. Listing what condition each individual has would be a clear violation of privacy, and that is something I would NEVER ask for.

hannah, the CDC has already studied the matter and noted that asthma is the most common underlying condition by far among children, but only just barely ahead of diabetes and pulmonary disease for adults.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content-nw/f...
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The bottom line is that the vast majority of the *deaths* from H1N1 have been in the underlying conditions group. Obesity by itself is not considered an underyling condition but it is often present with other conditions. Kidney disease is unusual among common underlying conditions in that it does not appear to raise the H1N1 risk significantly.
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Again, this woman's underlying condition is not important to know. It does not change the risk for anyone here to invade this family's privacy. You're just being nosy.

If you've never been there.. Oconto is tiny. I'm not sure how much the entire county covers, but my guess is that there will be an obituary in the local paper, and knowing the age and gender, it's probably pretty easy to figure out who it was that had H1N1, so they're not saying. Obviously it is a privacy issue, and just because it seems at first glance like you would never be able to figure out who it is.. it’s actually unlikely to be very hard to deduct who it is. I’ve been able to easily figure out who commenters on this blog are with minimal searching.

I'm sick of hearing about the high risk groups...if you don't have enough of the vaccine STOP SCARING EVERYONE!

a just released article in the capitol times says 4 people have died from H1N1 recently in wisconsin.

My asthmatic 3 yr old hasn't been able to get the vaccine yet either-so frustrating!

I am pregnant and still waiting for my vaccine. So much for being in the priority group.

I was diagnosed with H1N1 on Monday. My doctor explained to me what the "high-risk" factors are. Asthma, diabetes, HIV, pregnancy, weakened immune system, heart disease--these are all possible "underlying conditions" which places a person in the "high-risk" group. According to my doctor at Mercy, being overweight or obese doesn't make a person more at risk than someone who is of normal weight.
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It annoys me as much as it does anyone else that the media keeps reporting deaths with "underlying conditions" yet they won't ever tell us what these could possibly be (even if it were in a different story simply talking about H1N1, its symptoms, and what puts a person into the high-risk group). So, Gazette staff, why don't you do that? People want to know! So please, tell us.
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Do us all a favor: If you get or think you have H1N1, stay home. I'm not going anywhere until next Monday.

wouldn't it be better to let the public know what's going on, rather than creating fear by shrouding this in mystery?

If you have an underlying condition your Dr. should have let you know by now..people with underlying conditions are still not getting the flu vaccine in Madison yet. I was told by the nurse that when the vaccine came in they were giving it to everyone. Now that there is a shortage the at-risk people will have to wait until more comes in.

Then why bother reporting it at all?

It doesn't matter. There are numerous common underlying health conditions ranging from diabetes to asthma that have been identified as risk factors. It does not change anything for the general public to know which one.

Anything reported to the CDC can be released to the public. We don't need the address, town or race. What is the underlying health condition?

Where do they draw the line? They revealed that she lived in Oconto County, that she was a woman, and that she had underlying health conditions. That might be enough for some people to know her identity. How is it disrespectful to acknowledge a death? Is there some shame in dying? It is perfectly natural and everyone does it eventually.

READ THE ARTICLE IT TELLS YOU WHY!! Geez...

"The Oconto County Health Department said Tuesday it is not releasing the woman’s age, race or location of residence because of “respect for the family and patient confidentiality laws.”

I don't understand why the age and underlying condition can't be given. It would help to know how much more I and others like me are at risk. Without the persons name and address we would never know who it was.

I don't understand why you can give this much info about this person, but you couldn't the other week when it was right here in our area.Just wondering.