Turnout Lower Than Expected For Mass Swine Flu Clinic
HEMET – One after another, hundreds line up to get a free H1N1 flu vaccine shot at Riverside County’s first mass flu vaccine clinic. Adriana Langston brought her 15 month-old son Tristan in for the shot.Langston says, “I just worry, it wasn’t an easy decision, you know what they’ve been saying about the kids getting sick.”
The County started giving the shots and nasal spray vaccines at 2pm. The Riverside County Health Department brought thousands of free swine flu vaccines to the Simpson Center in Hemet.
Dr. Laura Robert with the riverside county health department says, “It is very important to establish immunity in the community to stop the spread of the disease in the high-risk population.”Health officials say preliminary counts show 521 were vaccinated. The County was expecting close to 2,000 people would get the shot or spray vaccine.
There are five high-risk priority groups who were offered the vaccine.All others outside of the groups are concerned they are not being taken care of. Type-two diabetic James Halbert of Hemet is one of several people turned away and not given a shot. Halbert says, “They refused to give me my shot, they say I’m 66 and too old, that’s a bunch of non-sense”
According to the Riverside Health Department’s criteria, he is not part of one of the five high-risk categories, he’s two years too old. the five high-risk categories include, people 6 months to 24 years old, caregivers of infants 6months or younger, pregnant woman, people who work in healthcare or emergency services andadults ages 25 to 64 with chronic health conditions.
The Riverside County Health Department says they are voluntarily following the Center for Disease Control’s guidelines for who gets the shot and what groups get it first. The County say once theCDC opens the H1N1 flu shot to everyone, the County will too.
No additional clinics have been scheduled. The County is offering the shot free at 10 of their Family Care Centers. For more information click here.
