Charles Oliver
Parents with young children started lining up outside the Whitfield County health department for the H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, said department manager Cheryl Wheeler.
The department opened at 7:30, and the initial rush quickly faded, but by 10:30 health department nurses had given the vaccine to 109 children ages 4 and under. Parents continued to bring children in during the day, and by 5:45 p.m., 230 children had received the vaccine.
“A lot of health departments, such as Catoosa and Walker County, have been doing 50 in a day, so we’ve already surpassed that. But we did expect more,” Wheeler said.
The health department got its first shipment of swine flu vaccine in last week, 700 doses of a nasal spray that the state is targeting towards healthy children ages 2 to 4 years old.
Maria, who did not give her last name, brought her daughter Brittany for the vaccine.
“She cried a little bit, but it went well,” she said.
Maria said she was concerned about the swine flu and wanted to make sure her daughter was protected. She said she also wanted to know when a vaccine for older children would be available.
Wheeler said that has been a frequent question but health officials don’t know the answer yet.
“They tell us that it is going to be trickling in. We’ve ordered 32,000 total doses,” Wheeler said. “I don’t know whether they will be coming in over the next month or the next six weeks.”
Local health departments will provide the swine flu vaccine at no charge to patients. However, an administrative fee may be charged through Medicare, Medicaid and all third-party insurance including state health benefit plans for United Health Care and CIGNA. Residents are asked to bring their insurance cards. Service is on a first-come, first-served basis until the current vaccine supply is depleted.
Nurse Jimmie Jones said many of the children have been expecting to get a shot.
“Some of them have been a little apprehensive, a little bit nervous, but when they find out it’s just a little sniff, that goes away,” she said. “They are very surprised and very happy.”
The entire process takes only a few seconds.
“We haven’t had a lot of questions from parents. I think a lot of them have really educated themselves on this by reading about the vaccine on the Internet,” Jones said.
Officials said demand for the seasonal flu vaccine is up this year, and most of the parents and children coming in for the swine flu vaccine have already had their seasonal flu vaccine.
“We go into companies and give the (seasonal flu) shots, and this year, we’ve had a lot of companies call us,” said Wheeler.
Swine flu claimed the life of Candy Chen, a second-grader at City Park School, in September.
