Few show for H1N1 vaccine clinic in Chimacum; next walk-in immunization clinic is Wednesday, Nov. 18, in PT
Only eight people were vaccinated on Nov. 12 during the first public H1N1 clinic in Jefferson County, surprising health officials who were prepared to immunize as many as 100 children.
A second walk-in clinic targeting children 5 and under is set from 3 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at Jefferson County Public Health. Families are encouraged to come to the clinic with children after school.
Three nurses waited patiently for three and a half hours in the large and empty Chimacum High School Commons.
“I’m surprised there aren’t more people here because there have been so many phone calls,” said public health nurse Jane Kurata as she waited with nurse Marty Johnson and Jefferson County Public Health Chief Operations Director Veronica Shaw.
Chimacum School Superintendent Mike Blair also briefly waited with the nurses. Blair questioned why teachers haven’t been put on a priority list by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“I think they are certainly vulnerable,” Blair said of teachers coming in contact with schoolchildren and, potentially, the flu.
That priority list of people to vaccinate is changing and expanding. The flu mist is to be given to people up to age 24 as vaccine supplies increase.
Public Health Supervisor Julia Danskin said last Friday that while “not enough” children showed up for the H1N1 vaccine clinic in Chimacum, she felt the poor turnout most likely reflected that the target population had already been served at private doctors’ offices.
“We’ve done outreach to the younger population. The message is, we have it covered pretty well,” Danskin said.
Danskin also said about 2,000 doses of 2,700 available had been given out as of Nov. 13.
“We will now give the H1N1 vaccine to the full CDC priority group, which goes up to [age] 24, and we will do that by scheduled appointment at the walk-in clinic,” she said.
Danskin noted that Jefferson Healthcare clinics at the hospital as well as Madrona Urgent Care have the vaccine.
The Nov. 12 walk-in clinic was aimed at children ages 5 and younger. One teenager with underlying health issues also was vaccinated.
Children must be accompanied by an adult at Public Health clinics. People need to sign a consent form and bring their insurance cards, if insured. Insurance companies and state health programs will be billed, but there is no charge for those without insurance.
Target populations to be immunized still include pregnant women; people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months; children 6 months through 4 years old; children and adults up to 64 years old with serious, chronic medical conditions, especially lung disease; and healthcare and emergency health workers.
Danskin also noted that people should stay home if they are sick. She said a Jefferson County librarian told her that a mother came to the library with her children because they were “too sick to go to school.”
If children are too sick to go to school, Danskin said, they shouldn’t be going to the county library either.