The fight to slow the swine-flu pandemic escalated in Orange County today with the opening of two public clinics that drew thousands of people for a quick sniff of vaccine.

The county’s Health Care Agency estimated that it gave out at least 3,300 doses of nasal vaccine at the free one-day clinics in Santa Ana and Irvine. That was several hundred doses fewer than it expected to give, leaving it with leftovers for three more clinics scheduled for the coming weekend.

Vaccines have been in short supply nationwide. Because of that, the first Orange County clinics have been limited to young children and adults caring for babies too young to get the vaccine themselves. If those in line were not in those two categories, they did not get the vaccine.

Parents began lining up before dawn Saturday at the Santa Ana clinic, to make sure their children would get the quick spray of FluMist vaccine. The line stretched across the campus of Santa Ana College, around a swimming pool and onto a soccer field – at least 1,200 people in all – before the doors even opened.

Rhonda Biel, 45, of Huntington Beach, was first in line at 5:30 a.m. She acknowledged some lingering concerns about the safety of the vaccine, but said the alternative – H1N1 Influenza – “is even scarier.”

Her 9-year-old son, Connor, described the vaccine experience as he left the clinic with a blueberry lollipop: “They, like, put this watery stuff up your nose and give you a tissue so it wouldn’t dribble all over your face.”

Health officials estimated that 1,600 people got the vaccine Saturday at the Santa Ana clinic, and 1,700 got it at Irvine. It took a few hours to work through the long early lines at both clinics; by afternoon, though, people could walk up and get a vaccine with hardly a wait.
The clinics targeted children between 2 and 9 years old, and healthy adults caring for babies 6 months and younger. Those groups seem to be at higher risk for the flu, health officials said; children also need a second dose, about four weeks after the first, for the vaccine to be effective.

The Health Care Agency has scheduled three more children’s clinics next Saturday. They will be in Rancho Santa Margarita (at Cox Communications, 29947 Avenida de las Banderas), Fullerton (at Fullerton College, 321 East Chapman Avenue) and Cypress (at City Hall, 5275 Orange Ave.).

Demand for a vaccine against the swine flu has overwhelmed some public vaccination clinics in Los Angeles County and elsewhere. But organizers here reported no such problems and said the crowds moved smoothly despite the early lines.

The secret was simple: Bright orange arm-bands given to children and adults after a quick pre-screening interview with a health worker. Those armbands guaranteed that there would be enough vaccine for them when they reached the front of the line.

Donna Fleming, the county’s chief of public health operations, called the armbands the “Willy Wonka golden tickets.”

At least 102 people in Orange County have been hospitalized with H1N1 flu, according to the county health agency. Complications from the flu have killed 23 people here, including four children and two pregnant women.

The flu season usually doesn’t peak until January or February. But the so-called swine flu has spread so much more quickly that it’s hard to say when it will peak, said Dr. Nancy Bowen, the county’s chief medical officer in public health services.

“We never see levels like this, this early in the year,” she said.

About 1.6 million Orange County residents fall into a priority group to get a vaccine because of their age, health or occupation. But the county health agency has so far received only 43,700 doses of the nasal spray and 19,200 vaccine shots. Private providers have also received an unknown amount of FluMist directly from the state’s distributor.

On Saturday, Donald Han, 39, of Anaheim, arrived at the Santa Ana clinic with his two young sons just as the doors opened. A volunteer pointed him to the back of the line – behind more than 1,000 people. Still, it was worth it, he said.

“We were kind of hesitant,” he said. “But I think it’s better to protect the kids. We decided to just go for it…. It’s better protection. That’s what we came here for.”

Original Source - http://www.ocregister.com/articles/clinic-vaccine-children-2631744-santa-line