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<< Previous   of   Next >> Heidi Hoffman / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Claire Swander, 6 months, gets an H1N1 immunization shot by nurse Soon Ku at Providence Physician Group in Mill Creek on Saturday. The Providence site had lines with a three-hour wait for part of the morning.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, November 1, 2009 Swine flu shots draw crowds in Snohomish County By Bill Sheets and Sharon Salyer Herald Writers EVERETT — As many as 30,000 people braved long lines and rain showers Saturday to get a shot in the arm or a spritz up the nose to ward off the swine flu. Snohomish County and local health organizations administered the vaccine at 10 different locations around the county. Some stood in line for more than four hours for a dose. “With the scare of an epidemic taking place, it's better to be safe than sorry,” said Allen Andrewin, 54, of Everett. He got into line at 9 a.m. outside the Community Health Center of Snohomish County in south Everett and was finally nearing the door at 1:30 p.m. The line wound completely around the large building. Many of those waiting were parents with young children. Crowds began massing as early as 3 a.m., waiting patiently for a chance to be immunized against the H1N1 virus. As many as 3,000 people were in line at one point at the Providence Physicians Group building near Mill Creek, said Teresa Wenta, a spokeswoman for Providence Everett Medical Center. The Providence clinic and several other locations closed off the lines when it was feared there might not be enough vaccine, said Christopher Schwarzen, a spokesman for the county. Some were reopened, some weren't. Vaccine was shuttled from clinics with shorter lines to those with more people waiting, Schwarzen said. The Providence location received about 1,500 more doses and the line was reopened after about 30 to 45 minutes, Wenta said “It was really unfortunate for the people who left,” she said. Later in the day, the lines dwindled and some had no wait at all. “We walked right in,” said Julie Kerr, who brought her twin daughters, Sophie and Alex, 5, to the clinic about 2:30 p.m. Preston Simmons, chief operating officer for Providence, estimated that by the end of the day, 4,000 people would be immunized at the site. A final count for all the locations won't be available until about Tuesday, Schwarzen said. About 30,000 doses were available around the county. In general, officials said the immunizations were an unqualified success. “I think that it's a remarkable medical story,” said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, health officer for the Snohomish Health District. “We have been able to demonstrate that we've got the ability to mobilize,” he said. “If we knew we had the vaccine, I think we could have mobilized for up to 100,000 doses of vaccine. I can't imagine that happening anywhere else — not in a county of comparable size.” More vaccination days could still be scheduled, possibly for next Saturday, Wenta said. That won't be known until midweek, she said. The immunizations on Halloween were offered in Stanwood, Edmonds, Monroe, Everett, Snohomish, Arlington, Marysville, Tulalip and Mill Creek. At Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, people began arriving at 3 a.m. and lines grew to an estimated 2,000 people later in the morning, said Steve Kaiser, hospital spokesman. Some people came from as far as Tacoma and Pierce County, he said. When Dr. Yuan-Po Tu arrived at Evergreen Middle School in Everett at 7 a.m. to begin preparing for the flu shot clinic, there were 300 people in line. By the time they began administering the vaccine at 8:30 a.m., there were 700 people in line. “We knew we were going to have a big day,” he said. Later, the line stretched out into the parking lot, down the block and into a cul-de-sac. Despite long waits, people were patient and appreciative, he said. Some in line stopped him to talk. “They said I just wanted to thank you,” Tu said. “I didn't even know who it was.” Although similar mass vaccination clinics were held on Oct. 24, the vaccination was limited to pregnant women and young children. About 5,000 people were vaccinated, far less than hoped for. A much broader group of people were eligible for the vaccination on Saturday, including teachers and child-care providers; anyone from 6 months through 24 years of age; household and caregiver contacts of children younger than 6 months of age; and people 25 to 64 years old who have medical conditions such as diabetes, asthma and heart problems that put them at higher risk of complications from influenza. “I've got a lot of tired nurses, medical staff and volunteers, but everyone is smiling,” Tu said as the flu shot clinic drew to a close Saturday afternoon. “This is a phenomenal win for the people in our community.” Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439, sheets@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out (No heading) MR MAC!!! OMG...are you suggesting that everyone must present a birth certificate? Which OFFICIAL told you there were dem dam furiners takin' our virus from us'n? Since you were there to get a shot, it's obvious you aren't a Glenn Beck lemming (he says we should NOT get the shot as it can not be proven to be safe and the government is tampering yada yada yada) but COME ON! Get real Mac! Speaker Of The Truth | Nov 2, 2009 1:47 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) "MR MAC!!! OMG...are you suggesting that everyone must present a birth certificate?" Well, here's a little update for you "speaker of the truth". Really poor choice of name since you don't know the truth. You see, sweetie, I never said I went to get a shot. AND, if you pay attention to the news, Whatcom Co is having a flu shot clinic and it's ONLY for Whatcom Co residents. DUH!!! Mr Mac | Nov 16, 2009 12:03 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Poorly organized Swine Flu clinics My husband and I arrived at 8:30 am on Saturday, Oct. 31 for the Everett Clinic Flu clinic held at Evergreen Middle School. The line ran out the school, parking lot, and three or four city blocks. It was obvious that there would not be enough vaccine for the numbers of people waiting. Also, the line, though orderly at that time, had many young children, disabled, and elderly people waiting. No provisions had been made for bathroom facilities ( portapottys) or food and drink. This enormous line had to funnel into a single line that then broke into 8 vaccine stations. I left my husband in line, walked all the way back in to the auditorium, and talked with a woman who defined herself as one of the management personnel. I told her that another RN and myself (an RN with Emergency Room background) would be willing to open additional stations, or help fill syringes to expedite production. She said they were already crowded with the 8 stations. I also asked about triaging the line to prioritize the distribution of available vaccine to the children first. She said the CDC prohibited that. If that is so, why are the paper articles stating that people are being triaged according to risk assessment? Finally, I suggested they assess the amount of vaccine available and cut off the people joining the line. She said they were doing that by not handing out any more vaccine paperwork. This did not seem effective since there were no signs anywhere stating that paperwork was indeed required. People continued to join the line without any awareness of the insufficient vaccine supplies available. I feel that the preparations by the Health Dept. to effectively distribute, triage, and manage the crowd were very sophomoric and would like to know why a more strategic large population distribution plan is not utilized when large crowd response is expected. This was handled more like a neighborhood health screening than an imminent health threat. Quadruple the number of vaccination stations, move them into the parking lot with heated tents, provide covered waiting queing areas, and have separate lines for each vacination tent-----think about mass people moving in an effective, logistical manner, and provide a bathroom area, a childrens's play area, and a place for juice afterwards in case anyone has a lightheaded reaction to receiving their vaccination. Ideally, provide people with a ticket that gives them a reserved time to return for their shot to avoid the absurdity of Saturday's ineffective distribution. Public Health should be more knowledgable about large crowd distribution of their their advised vaccination resources without endangering us all by lining up on busy streets, standing in the rain without cover, exposure to large crowds (which defeats containment sensibility), and doing without food, drink, or bathroom priviledges for four hours or more. Really----does anybody in charge have any experience with group distribution???? Needless to say, we did not get our vaccinations.Di Townsan Di Townsan | Nov 2, 2009 4:57 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) When I visited the snocoflu.com site yesterday at about 11:20AM, it showed that ALL clinics had NO VACCINE!!! Also, it's been brought to my attention there were Canadians & people from other counties (eg - King, Skagit and probably others) coming here to Sno Co to get shots. Why was there nobody verifying that these people were residents of Sno Co? There would have been more vaccine for those of us in Sno Co if info on website had been correct and addresses had been checked. Mr Mac | Nov 1, 2009 10:00 am | 2 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Highly organized I went to the Arlington Site to obtain my flu shot. It was located in the Cumulus Park building and even though there were alot of people there I waited less than five minutes to obtain my shot. I had my paperwork completed prior to going to the clinic which saved me some time but I was extremely impressed that all the volunteers/staff were highly organized and everything appeared to be running smoothly. It was very impressive. I wanted to make sure that I comment on a positive note. Thank you very much. Yvonne Ito | Nov 1, 2009 2:40 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Flu Clinic I had the same experience. We went in after calling the hotline just in case they didn't have correct numbers and sure enough they had more vaccine at the end. I guess the shuffling shots around left some people no shots unfortunately. I would be mad if I had waited for hours. We went in at 2:30 and were glad to arrive in time. We had been out looking in the morning early but the lines were huge! Rae Cook | Nov 1, 2009 11:38 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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