The Johnson County Department of Public Health is sending University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics limited shipments of the H1N1 influenza vaccine. Manufacturing problems have slowed production of the vaccine and the vaccine is in short supply across the nation.

The Iowa Department of Public Health says that any available doses of the H1N1 vaccine should first be given to pregnant health care workers and pregnant patients because the H1N1 virus can severely affect pregnant women. UI Hospitals and Clinics is working to make the H1N1 influenza vaccine available to pregnant health care workers, pregnant patients and to children with chronic medical conditions, subject to availability of the vaccine.

We remain unable to offer the H1N1 vaccine to other health care workers or the general public. We will notify those groups when our vaccine supply is adequate to permit us to begin offering the vaccine to those employees. We are expecting that the supply of H1N1 vaccine will begin to increase within the next four to eight weeks.

Leaders of UI Hospitals and Clinics, Mercy Iowa City and the Iowa City VA Medical Center jointly announced today that they will be restricting visitors to help protect patients from the H1N1 influenza virus. Read more.