County declares H1N1 emergency

Whitman County commissioners declared a swine flu state of emergency Monday morning. Fran Martin, county health department director, said the emergency declaration allows people other than doctors and nurse practitioners to administer vaccines for the H1N1 swine flu virus.

“We’re finding that we’re working our heads and tails off in trying to administer injections, and we’re losing ground on our regular work,” said Martin.

Martin said local EMS personnel and pharmacy and veterinary students at WSU will likely be trained to administer the vaccine.

She added county officials are organizing immun...