After a seriously sick (ill, not demented) couple of weeks here at school, Uni is finally getting the H1N1 vaccine. McKinley Health Center will be giving out vaccinations on Monday. Vaccine delays have been a problem across the nation, despite government warnings of likely shortages ever since the H1N1 (swine flu) virus appeared last spring.

Unfortunately, the only available vaccine at Monday's clinic will be the intranasal (live) vaccine. The inactivated injectable form of the vaccine is still harder to find than Waldo at one of those creepy old-time candy cane stores.

Part of the reason for the delay is that flu vaccines today are made using technology developed nearly 60 years ago, technology that relies on growing the vaccines individually in chicken eggs. Not only can the intranasal vaccine-making process not be sped up, this vaccine can’t be given to persons with egg allergies. (To read more about the problems posed by our outdated method of making vaccines, see this Boston Globe article published Thursday.)

I’ll admit that I have some personal interest in the other swine flu vaccine arriving. I am not able to be vaccinated intranasally due to a history of mild asthma. But judging by the number of people I’ve huffed prescription drugs alongside in basketball practice, I’m assuming this affects students other than myself.

While I'm glad that most Uni students will finally have the opportunity to be vaccinated, I can't help but wish there was a way to provide a vaccine that is approved for people with (to use the CDC's own words) "a medical condition that places them at high risk for complications from influenza, including those with chronic heart or lung disease, such as asthma or reactive airways disease."

I don't want to whine more than necessary here, but isn't the whole point of vaccinating people for the flu to protect those at highest risk from complications?

Obviously local and national officials are not to blame for the spread of a flu strain that appeared too late to prepare for. But we need to develop new vaccine technology in order to create a sufficient number of immunizations before an outbreak strikes. Until we can do that, my slightly short-winded friends and I will be holding on to the hand sanitizer.