County gets first shot at flu immunizations
Flu clinic provides 700 doses of the H1N1 vaccine
Erica Ryberg / The South County Spotlight
VACCINE SCENE — (Foreground, left to right) St. Helens’ Jen Johnston and her 4-year-old son, Logan, join Scappoose’s Kellia Meharry and her son, Quinn, 2, in a less congested patch of grass at the Columbia Health District office on Gable Road last Friday as others held their place in line. Hundreds turned out and waited for a chance to receive the intravenous H1N1 vaccine before supplies ran out.
Bullhorns. A police marquis. An outside tent area. And everywhere, looping lines. One long line to get the paperwork necessary to get into the second line, the line that led — for some — to free H1N1 flu vaccines at one of the only late-October flu clinics in the Portland area.
This was the scene at the Columbia County Public Health offices last Friday. It was a scene made possible by the renewal of President Obama’s flu emergency declaration, allowing for the establishment of incident command systems. It was also made possible, said the county’s Public Health Preparedness Coordinator Anne Parrot, by endless drilling to make sure that the office-turned-point-of-distribution center would run smoothly, even when a crush of nearly 1,000 people turned out over the course of a few short morning hours to get their shots. Some arrived three hours early to wait for the clinic’s 9 a.m. opening.
Many flu clinics had been canceled due to lack of vaccine and there were concerns that the St. Helens clinic would attract people from around Portland, but most of the people at the clinic were from Scappoose and St. Helens. And still, on this particular day, all of the 700 doses were gone by 10:30 a.m.
Walking away from the scene at 9:30 a.m. was Tom Lapping. After standing in line for more than an hour, he was turned away because as a healthy person nearing 70, he didn’t belong to any of the priority groups. “That was a waste of time,” he said. “I guess I have to get sick first.”
For those who clearly belonged — those aged 6 months to 24 years, pregnant women and care providers of infants less than 6 months old as well as people between the ages of 24 and 64 with underlying health conditions — it was still a long wait, and for some, a daunting one.
Because of her diabetes, 58-year-old Lois Dering was eligible for her shot, but it took all her effort to make sure she could get it.
“I think they should have had a different line for pregnant women and people who can’t stand,” she said. “I won’t be able to walk tonight. I’m a great-grandmother.”
Reflecting the H1N1 flu’s potential impact on younger populations, fully half the people in line were children. Some were in costume and some took time out of school to get the vaccine.
Where the line passed an open field, Kellia Meharry let her twin 2-year-olds, Quinn and Carter, burn off some energy while a relative held her place in line.
“It felt like it was going fast for a while but we got in this line and it’s not going so fast,” she said.
Before long, Jen Johnston and her son Logan, 4, joined them. The three boys lined up for an impromptu footrace across the wet grass. Meharry officiated.
Johnston expressed her concerns about getting Logan his second recommended flu shot a month from now.
“They’re in such short demand now. Are we going to get the second one?” she said. “We’re going to have to go through this again.”
But Parrott said she hopes getting that second shot for kids aged 9 and under will be considerably easier as vaccine supplies loosen up.
There have been no reported cases of death or hospitalization from H1N1 in Columbia County. Statewide, 584 people have gone to the hospital with H1N1 and 15 have died. Nationally, the CDC reported on Oct. 30 that 114 children have died from H1N1, an increase from 95 in early October.