H1N1 Vaccines Sweeps the Country
WHITFIELD: A look now at some of the other top stories we're following. A grueling marathon in Detroit turned deadly today. Three runners collapsed and died. One man in his 60s fell and hit his head. Two others ages 26 and 36 fell near the finish line. Officials believe all three died of cardiac arrest. Police want to know who killed a star football player at the University of Connecticut early this morning. Twenty-year-old Jasper Howard was stabbed during a fight on campus just hours after his team's victory over Louisville. The U of Conn. coach says the team is devastated by the loss.</s>RANDY EDSALL, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT  FOOTBALL COACH: What Jas would want these young men to do was to take their moment for grieving, but also then move forward and go on and get ready to go play another game. That's what Jas would want to do.</s>WHITFIELD: The coach says Jasper Howard was about to be a father. He was a starting cornerback who led the big east in punt returns last season. The death toll from a sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona is rising. A 49-year-old woman who took part in the spiritual retreat earlier this month died last night. Two others died of their injuries the night of the ceremony. A homicide investigation is now under way. Hurricane Rick is churning off Mexico's coast. Forecasters are calling it one of the strongest pacific storms on record. That's where our Karen MaGinnis steps in.</s>KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Very impressive, Fred, as we take a look at our enhanced satellite imagery. This system a clearly defined eye but the winds, we just received an update, down to 160 miles an hour, still very powerful. Just less than 500 miles to the south of Cabo, Cabo is right here along the Baja. As it makes its way towards west-northwest eventually it is going to curve more toward the north and northeast. So it brings it up toward the coast, the southern tip of Baja as we go towards Wednesday. Perhaps as a weakened category 2 or perhaps a category 1 hurricane. It is still too early to tell. But even the slight movement is going to bring it into much cooler water. It's going to have an interaction that is going to allow it to really decrease in intensity. Fred we have lots of delays in that northeastern corridor because of bad weather there. Back to you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Always on a Sunday leading into that Monday workweek. All right. Karen appreciate it. All right. Right now, a lot of parents are trying to decide whether they should get their kids the H1N1 flu vaccine. Earlier I spoke with senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen about that and some of your other H1N1 questions.</s>WHITFIELD (voice-over): So many questions still about H1N1. Should I get the vaccine or not? And that's why we've invited senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen along because lots of questions. Beginning with Allen who says I keep hearing statistics on how many children have died this year from the H1N1 flu. Are these statistics any worse than deaths from seasonal flu?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well you know it's interesting, H1N1 flu really has hit young people very hard. Let's take a look at some statistics. When you look at the seasonal flu, on average in a few recent seasons 71 children have died in an average flu season. However, H1B1 flu so far just since April there have already been 81 deaths and technically the flu season hasn't even started yet. Because it's only October. Yes, H1N1 flu does seem to really hit kids hard.</s>WHITFIELD: That's what makes it so unnerving. This from the Penya family saying my sons are ages 17, 20 and 23. They're healthy and have never received any flu shots. Should they get vaccinated with H1N1 or will the regular flu shot be enough?</s>COHEN: The regular flu shot won't be enough. If you want to be protected against H1N1, the regular flu shot is not going to do anything for you. The strain's just not in there. So you have to have the strain in there in order for it to work. What the CDC is suggesting is that the Penya family's children in fact, should get the H1N1 shot. They fall into what are called a high-priority group. Let's take a look at all of the groups put together. For example, pregnant women are supposed to get an H1N1 vaccine. Anyone ages 6 months to 24 years which is where the Penya children fall into. Anyone who takes care of a baby under the age of six months should get a vaccine. The reason for that is babies six months and younger can't get vaccinated on their own. Protect everyone around the baby. Health care workers and anyone ages 25 to 64 with an underlying health problem such as diabetes or asthma. The CDC would say all those children should get vaccinated.</s>WHITFIELD: Jason asks this. Can a patient get both flu vaccines at the same time or is there a need to stagger the vaccines?</s>COHEN: That's a great question. I will tell you Fred a lot of my friends are asking that question. It's a little bit complicated. Here goes. If you want to get shots for both the seasonal flu and for H1N1, get them at the same time. It's perfectly fine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and other experts. However, if you want to get the nasal spray vaccine against either of those, you really ought to separate them. If you're going to be getting the nasal spray vaccine you should separate them by a couple of weeks. The reason for that is that the spray is a live virus where as the other one is an attenuated virus. It's a different type there.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Great advice earlier from our own Elizabeth Cohen. All right. Anxious days for Alaska's economy. Is America's northernmost state headed south? We'll take a look.