(WHAS11) Before the doors even opened, hundreds gathered for the latest H1N1 vaccination clinic.
“We had so much response last week,” said Dr. Adewale Troutman, Director of Louisville Metro Health and Wellness, “People were asking what’s next? When do you get more of the vaccine? We had to close the line down early because we had such an overwhelming response, so I’m not surprised at all.”
Dr. Troutman expects many more of these clinics over the next several months, because their supply of the vaccine is now coming in much more regularly.
Many of those who turned out at the Urban Government Center on Saturday were parents with young children, or others in what’s considered to be the “high risk” category; like Kerri Thornton.
Thornton is pregnant and the mother of two children. She said she had reservations, but decided to come at the suggestion of her doctor. “My OB-GYN was insistent that I get the vaccine,” she said, “My children needed it too and their pediatrician hasn’t had it, so we came here.”
Children and pregnant women are still at the top of the list of that high-risk category, but the standards from high-risk have extended. Now anyone from 6 months to 24 years old is able to get vaccinated, without any underlying chronic medical condition.
Dana Diehlman and her family waited for about an hour outside the center to get vaccinated.
“It’s just a precaution. I’d rather be safe than sorry,” she said. “We were on the fence for so long and then the more I hear, the moreI feel like we should go ahead and get it done.”
Louisville’s first H1N1 clinic vaccinated more than 19,000 people at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium. This clinic was on a smaller scale, but still hundreds of people waited in line for the shot. In fact, they vaccinated 200 people within the first 30 minutes.
The Centers for Disease Control is reporting that the number of H1N1 cases is declining nationwide, but local health experts say it’s still important to get vaccinated.
“That doesn’t mean anything as far as getting vaccinated,” says Dr. Troutman. “Those are epidemic trends, important in the long term but if you look at the numbers, we are way beyond what you would normally expect in the flu season.”
The Health Department is planning its next clinic for Tuesday, November 24 at the New Zion Baptist Church on 34th Street, at Southern Avenue. Then, beginning on November 30, JCPS students will be vaccinated in 10 schools a day, over 15 days. JCPS said they hope to get the vaccine to all of the schools in the district within three weeks.
