Investigation Underway Into Man's Death

A review is underway into the death of a 77 year old man from Central Newfoundland whose family believes he died from swine flu. Edith Snow says her father, Seymour Cassell, developed flu-like symptoms, went to a clinic where he was prescribed Tamiflu, and sent back home to Horwood. He passed away Friday and has since been confirmed to have had the H1N1 virus. Health Minister Jerome Kennedy says he's looking into the case, and as with any H1N1 related death, they will look into the level of care the man received. Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Faith Stratton says it's an issue being dealt with nation-wide, the 'definition' of a swine-flu related death. She points out some 20 to 30 per cent of the population will become exposed to the virus, and some will die, but not all will necessarily die because of the virus. Meanwhile, Kennedy says by Friday, the province should have some indication of how many doses of vaccine are coming our way next week. He says by that time, they should have a better indication of when they'll begin vaccinating high school students, and when they will be able to move into immunizing the province's seniors and healthy adults.
Starting today the H1N1 vaccine will be available to children in grades 7-9 and vaccinations will be given in schools wherever possible. If the vaccine cannot be given out in certain schools or if children are absent, parents can take their children to the closest immunization clinic.