Swine flu could raise constitutional issues

Lee County ready to offer H1N1 vaccines

Learn who should get the first vaccines ...

H1N1 vaccination clinics

Collier County

The Collier County School District will offer vaccinations to all students starting Tuesday through Dec. 2. Elementary schools will hold morning clinics from 8:45 to 11:15 a.m. and afternoon clinics from 12:15 to 2:30 p.m., except as noted. Middle schools will host all-day clinics from 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and afternoon clinics from 12:30 p.m. to 3:20 p.m., except as noted. High schools will hold morning clinics from 8 to 11:30 a.m. and all-day clinics from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The following are the dates for the vaccination clinics:

Tuesday: Eden Park Elementary School will have a clinic in the morning; Immokalee Middle School will have a clinic from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; and Big Cypress Elementary School will have a clinic all day.

Wednesday, Nov. 4: Lely High School will have a clinic in the morning; Parkside and Lely elementary schools will have clinics in the afternoon.

Thursday, Nov. 5: Palmetto Ridge High School will have a clinic all day.

Friday, Nov. 6: Gulf Coast High School will have a clinic all day.

Tuesday, Nov. 10: Lake Trafford Elementary School will have a clinic in the morning; Immokalee High School will have a clinic all day; Immokalee Middle School will have an alternate clinic from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 12: Gulfview Middle School will have a clinic all day; Golden Gate Elementary School will have a clinic in the morning; Golden Gate Intermediate School will have a clinic in the afternoon.

Friday, Nov. 13: Sea Gate Elementary School will have a clinic in the morning; Pine Ridge Middle School will have a clinic all day.

Monday, Nov. 16: Shadowlawn and Laurel Oak elementary schools will have a clinic in the morning; Avalon and Vineyards elementary schools will have clinics in the afternoon.

Tuesday, Nov. 17: Highlands and Pinecrest elementary schools will have a clinic in the morning.

Wednesday, Nov. 18: Lorenzo Walker Technical High School and Calusa Park Elementary School will have a clinic in the morning; East Naples Middle School will have a clinic in the afternoon.

Thursday, Nov. 19: Barron Collier High School will have a clinic all day.

Friday, Nov. 20: Golden Gate High School will have a clinic in the morning; Mike Davis Elementary School will have a clinic in the afternoon.

Monday, Nov. 23: Naples High School will have a clinic all day.

Tuesday, Nov. 24: Veterans Memorial Elementary School will have a clinic in the morning; North Naples Middle School will have a clinic in the afternoon.

Monday, Nov. 30: Naples Park Elementary School will have a clinic in the morning; Oakridge Middle School will have a clinic all day.

Wednesday, Dec. 2: Village Oaks Elementary School will have a clinic from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Lee H1N1 clinics

The clinics are at Lee County high schools.

The high-risk populations who are recommended to come to one of the clinics are pregnant women, household contacts and caregivers of infants under 6 months old, people between 6 months and 24, health care workers and people who have cancer, blood disorders, chronic lung disease, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disorders, liver disorders, neurological disorders, neuromuscular disorders and weakened immune systems.

Clinic schedule:

Tuesday, Nov. 3: 4 to 9 p.m., Estero High and Island Coast high schools

Wednesday, Nov. 4: 4 to 9 p.m., East Lee County and North Fort Myers high schools

Thursday, Nov. 5: 4 to 9 p.m., Mariner and Fort Myers high schools

Saturday, Nov. 7: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., South Fort Myers High School

Monday, Nov. 9: 4 to 9 p.m., Cape Coral and Lehigh Senior high schools

Tuesday, Nov. 10: 4 to 9 p.m., Estero and East Lee County high schools

Thursday, Nov. 12: 4 to 9 p.m., Island Coast and Riverdale high schools

Saturday, Nov. 14: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Dunbar High School

Monday, Nov. 16: 4 to 9 p.m., Lehigh Senior and Cape Coral high schools

Tuesday, Nov. 17: 4 to 9 p.m., Island Coast and Riverdale high schools

Wednesday, Nov. 18: 4 to 9 p.m., Fort Myers and East Lee County high schools

Thursday, Nov. 19: 4 to 9 p.m., Estero and Lehigh Senior high schools

Saturday, Nov. 21: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., South Fort Myers High School

SWINE FLU - MULTIMEDIA

The Naples Daily News and naplesnews.com recently held a live interactive forum with local medical professionals about swine flu.

FAQ: Learn about the facts about swine flu
VIDEO: Lee County ready to offer H1N1 vaccines
VIDEO: Swine flu prevention in Collier County
VIDEO: 5 things to know about swine flu
PHOTOS: See local and national photos about the fight against swine flu
MULTIMEDIA: Google map of suspected and confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S.
MULTIMEDIA: Chronological timelime of swine flu outbreak
MULTIMEDIA: Interactive graph: Global alerts after swine flu outbreak
STORIES: Read stories about swine flu
SPECIAL SECTION: Get complete coverage about swine flu

WASHINGTON — Civil liberties advocates caution that mandatory vaccinations, forced quarantines and restricted interstate travel would not only endanger individual rights but also would be unlikely to prevent disease in the event of a severe H1N1 outbreak. "These raise the highest constitutional problems," said Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland, at a recent panel discussion.

Sharon Bradford Franklin, senior counsel at the Constitution Project, an advocacy organization for civil rights, said it's important to consider the "potential impact of individual rights" and the "legitimate scope of government power" in the event of a flu pandemic.

Last month, an order that would have required all New York State health workers to get the H1N1 vaccine created a public outcry. The mandate was rescinded after state officials said the vaccine was in short supply, but the issue of mandatory vaccination raises serious legal and constitutional issues.

"You can't force someone to get a vaccine you don't have," said Wendy Mariner, author and professor of health law at Boston University.

Mariner said that new laws imposing mandates in the event of a national emergency, such as a severe flu pandemic, are unnecessary and often create public backlash.

In 1918, a global flu pandemic swept the world, killing more than 50 million people and infecting 500 million. A new strain of the H1N1 flu virus struck the United States in April, leading President Barack Obama to declare a national emergency.

"Today, we know a lot more," said Dr. Marita Mike, health director at the University of Maryland Center of Health and Homeland Security. "We have medical capacity that we didn't have then."

But Mike said that, even though medical advances have been made since the last flu pandemic, another outbreak could cripple the population much as it did in 1918.

The World Health Organization reported 441,661 cases of infection and 5,712 deaths as of Oct. 25.

Federal quarantine has rarely been used in public health emergencies. Large-scale isolation and quarantine was last enforced during the flu pandemic of 1918-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since then, the CDC has reported only two incidents of quarantine and isolation. In 1963, a federal quarantine order was given to a person with a suspected case of smallpox. In 2007, an airplane passenger with a rare, drug-resistant form of tuberculosis was put in isolation.

Greenberger said a severe outbreak of H1N1 isn't likely, but in the case of a pandemic, state and federal governments have extensive executive emergency powers. State laws give governors the authority to contravene any law that interferes with the governor's ability to deal with an emergency. Most governors have the power to take drastic measures such as quarantining people, seizing medications, overturning laws and using martial police power.

"Just because a governor has these extraordinary powers does not mean a governor will use those extraordinary powers," Greenberger said. In fact, a governor has never used such powers in a public health emergency -- but they have used them in floods and hurricanes.

Mariner said she doesn't think these types of measures or emergency preparedness laws can prevent disease, and she critiqued the post-9/11 mentality of coercive public health tools that threaten individual civil liberties. Instead, she said the best defense against a flu pandemic is a "healthy, resilient population."

Instead of relying on emergency laws, Mariner said the government should focus on education, vaccines and access to health care.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

Also in Health and Fitness

More

Comments » 0

Be the first to post a comment!

Share your thoughts

Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.