NOIDA: Following reports of multiple cases of swine flu from the district, the health department has advised residents in the high-risk groups to get themselves vaccinated for the disease.However, while the government has provided for the vaccination for doctors and employees of the district hospital, ordinary residents have to depend on private chemist shops , which don't keep the vaccine and tell customers that it is usually provided by the hospitals.A TOI reality check revealed that most chemist shops do not stock the vaccine.While people from all age groups don't necessarily require to get themselves vaccinated for swine flu, those in the high-risk categories are children below the age of five and elderly persons above 65 years."We suggest that if someone wants to prevent the disease, they can get themselves vaccinated. The best prevention is wearing a three-layer mask while travelling and avoiding contact with a person infected with flu," CMO Anurag Bhargava told TOI.While officials of the health department said that the vaccine is commonly available at chemist shops, distributors and chemists agreed that the vaccine is hardly available at any of the chemist shops and one has to depend on private hospitals for the vaccine.Official sources confirmed that the vaccine is not available at the district hospital in Sector 30."The two most common vaccines for swine flu available in the market are Influvac and Vaxigrip. These require to be kept in a temperature of 2.8 degrees to 8 degrees to maintain which the chemists need to buy a machine called 'cold room', costing about Rs 5 lakh. Hence, very few chemists keep it and even if one buys it from a local chemist, its efficacy needs to be checked," a wholesale vaccine supplier said.Doctors too pointed out that the vaccination is expensive but effective for almost a year."We do not keep this vaccine as we never required it. It is usually available at the private hospitals," said a chemist in the Jalvayu Vihar market in Sector 25. The vaccine is not available in the shops in Sector 18 and 27 too.The health department officials said that they have enough quota of Tamiflu, the medicine for swine flu but vaccine from the state government's health department was made available for only the doctors and employees of the district hospital who come into contact with patients on a daily basis. tnn

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