H1N1 Arrival Date Still Unknown

Cranford officials now know how many H1N1 vaccines they will be receiving, but there is still no official word on when the vaccines will arrive.

The Cranford Township Committee held a scheduled workshop meeting on Monday night, meeting with officials from several of the town’s departments, including Health Officer Warren Hehl.

Hehl said the New Jersey Department of Health will receive between 2,500 and 3,000 H1N1, or “swine flu,” vaccines, but the delivery date for both the vaccines and money to administer them is still a mystery.

When the vaccines do arrive, they will be administered first to individuals in the high risk, priority group.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention currently lists the following as high priority groups: pregnant women, household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age, healthcare and emergency medical services personnel, all people from 6 months through 24 years of age and persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza. 

The town will be required to post information about the vaccination clinics on a state website and to administer to anyone in the priority group regardless of resident or non-resident status.

Dr. Michael Beams, DO, who practices sports medicine in Clark, warned that a full array of safety statistics have not yet been collected and analyzed for the H1N1 vaccine, but said that he still recommends that any high-risk individuals get the vaccine.

“Once I start hearing about pregnant women on respirators dying, little kids dying and people who were healthy [dying from pneumonia after getting the flu], I think that anyone who meets these criteria should get it,” Beams said. “Everyone should get the season flu [vaccine] and my guess is that once the [H1N1 vaccine] becomes available we should all get that too.”

The Township Committee also talked with other department heads about local issues during the four-hour meeting. Among the issues discussed were construction projects on Willow Street and Holly Street, a request to grant permit parking to residents of Rutgers and Princeton streets and plans to repair the damaged Pepperidge tree in Lincoln Park.

The widely branching tree, called “Old Peppy” is currently being considered as a historical landmark in Cranford, but it is also suffering from a large crack in one of its large branches. Public Works employees noticed the structural damage earlier this month, and the tree is currently surrounded by caution tape to prevent any injuries should the branch fall.

The committee is talking with a professional contractor to trim the undercarriage of the tree - alleviating some of the weight of the canopy. The contractor would also install a cable system that would connect branches in a way to reinforce the structural integrity of the tree.

Plans should be in place in the near future to minimize the risk of injury.

Town officials will hold their official meeting Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the municipal building.