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Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

H1N1 clinics busy but efficient

Thousands wait for vaccine at two Lexington schools

On a warm, sunny Saturday, thousands of people stood in line to get jabbed by a needle.

The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department's first mass H1N1 flu vaccination clinics won good reviews even from those who had to wait one to two hours with squirming children.

"The organization today has been fantastic, from the parking to the lines in here," said Clay Thyne, a University of Kentucky political scientist holding two of his three daughters at Bryan Station High School. "As for the wait, you expect a wait. Nothing you can do about that."

The health department gave an estimated 3,100 doses at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, running through its allotment, and had to close the clinic nearly an hour before the scheduled time of 3 p.m. It gave an estimated 2,900 doses at Bryan Station, with some remaining.

The next Fayette County H1N1 clinics will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 21 at Tates Creek and Jessie Clark middle schools. The clinics are free.

Additionally, area doctors are getting H1N1 vaccine as it's available, said Dr. Melinda Rowe, the county health commissioner. Patients should call their doctors to check on availability, Rowe said.

At Bryan Station on Saturday, health department workers and volunteers began to arrive at 5:30 a.m. The first patients showed up 30 minutes later with lawn chairs and books to claim their spots at the head of the line.

By the time doors opened, a little before the scheduled 9 a.m., the line snaked back and forth through the school's lobby, out the front door and around the corner.

The line shrank considerably after 1 p.m. — when the University of Kentucky football game started — and the average wait dropped from about two hours to one. By then, the Dunbar clinic had committed to about 2,500 doses for people in line, which was most of its allotment of 3,000, and the Bryan Station clinic committed to about 1,900.

As the numbers show, people who wait until the end of the clinics to avoid early crowds are gambling that the vaccine won't run out before they arrive, said health department spokesman Kevin Hall. But everyone who joins the line and is handed a green card is guaranteed a dose, Hall said.

"Once we give you the green card, then you're in. That means we have enough doses left," Hall said. "We didn't want you to get here, stand in line for hours and then be told, 'Sorry, we just ran out.'"

At its busiest, nearly three dozen vaccination stations in the Bryan Station gym were dispensing the vaccine by shot and nasal mist. The nasal mist contains a live form of the virus and is not recommended for pregnant women, people with chronic medical conditions or those older than 50.

Patients at Bryan Station praised the health department staff for orderly parking in the lot, quickly providing chairs for those in line who needed to sit and the nurses' friendly attitudes.

The HIN1 clinics are still officially targeting priority groups, including pregnant women, children and young people 6 months to 24 years old, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months, people ages 25 to 64 with chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems and health care and emergency services workers.

However, other people standing in line — parents with children, for example — were invited to get vaccinated once they reached the nurse. Those in line were mixed on whether they planned to do so.

"We're here because of the little one. We're really not too worried about us," said Yuri Klyachkin, a UK post-doctoral student, holding his son Niko.