Swine flu vaccine is late and scarce

By By Bob Martin, The Alabama Scene
The State Department of Public Health has determined the priority groups which will receive the scarce and late-arriving swine flu vaccine in Alabama according to State Health Officer Dr. Don Williamson.
The health department will allocate the vaccine first to providers who can vaccinate persons 6 months through 4 years old, for persons ages 5-18 with underlying health problems, pregnant women, caregivers of babies under six months and health care workers. The department is asking doctors to reserve vaccine for those groups until additional supplies arrive.
Williamson says the delivery of swine flu vaccine to the state is far behind schedule and the slow arrival of the vaccine is delaying plans for mass vaccination clinics at schools and that they will not be starting school clinics for children younger than 10 until the end of November.
The health officer says they expected to have slightly over a half-million shots for the H1N1 virus by the end of this week but predicts they will be lucky to get 300,000 shots by that time. He said clinics for older children and staff will not be established until at least December
A strange event
I cannot recall one, much less two of the state’s U. S. Senators jumping in and becoming publicly involved in a statewide race in their own party. Yet the state’s two GOP senators are supporting Birmingham lawyer Luther Strange against incumbent Attorney General Troy King in the upcoming Republican Primary.
Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions are the featured guests at a Washington fundraiser for Strange, a former lobbyist who was the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor in 2006, but was defeated by Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. Both aided King in his victory three years ago, but in a strange twist, are lining up behind his opponent this time.
There is some speculation around Goat Hill that King may opt out of the AG race and run for one of the open positions on the State Supreme Court. The Attorney General has denied that, saying he is in the AG’s race. “I’m in it to win,” he told me last week.
Sparks gets significant endorsement
Last week former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington provided a ringing endorsement for Agricultural Commissioner Ron Spark’s campaign for governor. The Birmingham News put it this way:
Also, last week Rep. Davis got the endorsement of retired federal judge U. W. Clemon. But significantly, in this race, it is expected that the Democratic Primary voter turnout in the next election will be about 50 percent African-American, which means that any black votes siphoned off by Sparks or white votes by Davis will become very important.
Adding Arrington’s remaining influence in Birmingham with the some expected ADC/AEA support for Sparks it is possible for the Ag Commissioner to acquire perhaps five percent of the African-American vote in the Democratic Primary. Another important factor for Sparks is that just about every local political race in the state is up in next year’s election and there will be a sizeable difference in the racial make-up of the candidates seeking votes in those lesser offices. This could also aid Sparks.
I hate to break this race down to racial politics, but truth is that it is going to play a big part, although downplayed by the candidates. We cannot escape the fact that this is the deep-south.
Bob Martin is editor and publisher of The Montgomery Independent. Email him at: bob@montgomeryindependent.com