Pueblo H1N1 Clinic A Bust: Had 4,200 Doses, Could Only Give Out 1,700 Of Them
The volunteers were dressed in Halloween costumes to make it as cheerful as possible, but it was serious business Saturday morning as hundreds of Puebloans turned out at the Colorado State Fair Events Center to receive H1N1 flu vaccines.
It was the second full-scale vaccination clinic for the Pueblo City-County Health Department, and it went smoothly as pregnant women, families with small children, caregivers and people with health risks lined up early to get either the nasal spray or injection. Health officials had 4,200 doses on hand for the clinic and several hundred were administered in the first hour Saturday.
“This is good. This is what we want to see,” said Dr. Chris Nevin-Woods, executive director of the department, as she looked across the Events Center floor to see families at nearly every vaccination station, people sitting patiently in the waiting area and lines of people coming in the front doors and being processed.
By the end of the day Saturday, 1,700 people had been vaccinated. A little after noon, the line had dwindled so that health officials broadened the criteria to all young people under 24, as well as police and firefighters. The crowd revived and stayed in place until a little after 2 p.m. A week ago, the department gave out its first 1,077 doses during its first clinic. More public clinics will be scheduled as more vaccine becomes available.
“I was in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control, and I know even their employees are waiting for vaccine, so it’s a matter of just being ready when it arrives,” Nevin-Woods said. “I know some doctors offices in Pueblo are getting the vaccine, particularly (obstetrics and gynecology) offices, so we are getting it out as fast as it comes in.”
As with the first clinic, nurses and nursing students from Pueblo Community College and Colorado State University-Pueblo were manning the vaccination stations. The cries of little kids unhappy at getting a vaccination reverberated around the big hall, but that is the sound of a busy flu clinic. Families were carrying children in car seats or pushing them in strollers. Candy suckers were handed out to the tearful.
“We just want to do everything we can to keep them healthy,” Albert Farias said as he and his wife, Jennifer, carried and escorted their children, 7-month-old Dominic and 3-year-old Xavier, out of the center Saturday. Both parents are teachers in Pueblo City Schools and said they have seen their students get ill this year.
“It’s been a real concern. This is a serious flu,” Jennifer said. “But everything went very smoothly this morning. The staff was great.”
Ben Madrill, of Pueblo West, felt the same way. He had brought his children, 3-year-old Gabbi and 4-year-old Zane, to get their vaccinations.
“You read about how sick people can get with this flu, and you want to take every precaution you can,” Madrill said. “It’s the thing to do right now.”
Nevin-Woods said local officials have a rough idea of their targeted populations – the average number of pregnant women in Pueblo County in any month, the number of young children and children with health risks. Saturday’s clinic aimed to cover many of those people who are most vulnerable to H1N1. More clinics will be scheduled as vaccine arrives.
“I think you’ll see the vaccine become available to the general public in December or earlier,” she said.
This is the second wave of H1N1 flu and the most dangerous thus far for Coloradans. There was an initial outbreak during the spring, but the virus revived this summer and fall. Pueblo hospitals have patients in intensive care with H1N1, although Nevin-Woods said the city is not near the epidemic level where emergency care centers need to be opened.
“Hopefully we are seeing the peak of the H1N1 infection in this wave along the Front Range,” she said. “A major concern for the health care community is whether seasonal flu will start to assert itself, and then we could see that double-whammy of both flus making people ill.”
She reminded the public to get the H1N1 vaccine when it is available, even if people believe they have already been exposed and recovered from that strain.
“Influenza is unpredictable, so people should get the vaccine when they can,” she said.
Seasonal flu shots are also highly recommended by health officials.
Source: Pueblo Chieftain
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