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FLU-SHOT CLINICS
Upcoming H1N1 flu vaccine clinics at Chesterfield County schools:
Tonight (postponed): Providence, Alberta Smith, Bellwood and Crenshaw elementary schools
Tomorrow (doubtful): Bon Air, Curtis and Bensley elementary schools
For the second consecutive day, H1N1 flu clinics scheduled in Chesterfield County are being postponed because of a lack of vaccine.
Clinics scheduled for tonight have been postponed, and clinics were postponed last night after those held at four elementary schools Monday night used up the county's entire supply -- 1,320 doses.
Those scheduled for tomorrow aren't looking promising, either.
County Health Department Director William R. Nelson said yesterday that he ordered more than 32,000 doses and, at most, he may receive 5,000.
"It's not coming off the assembly line fast enough," Nelson said.
Nelson also addressed complaints about the clinic held Monday night at Clover Hill Elementary School, during which some parents waited more than four hours for their children to be vaccinated. He said he has heard that parents were upset because adults were vaccinated along with students.
"If people insist on being vaccinated, we cannot turn them away," he said. However, "the school-based program was intended to vaccinate children."
At one point, Nelson said, he took a bullhorn outside and explained to those waiting in line that if adults received vaccinations, children wouldn't get them.
"Once the adults understood that, they all stepped aside," he said.
Clover Hill parent Brooke Teefey took two of her four children to the Clover Hill clinic and was there for more than four hours.
When she arrived at 4:15 p.m., "there was already a line that was wrapped around the school and into the parking lot," she said.
She said that after about three hours, and seeing many adults walking out wearing a bandage, the announcement was made that only children would be vaccinated.
"People were getting really frustrated," Teefey said. "Everyone knew it was for the children."
Parent Lisa Doyle said her 8-year-old daughter has a short window of time to be vaccinated because of illnesses she has had recently, combined with heart problems she has had since she was a baby.
Doyle said that when her daughter gets sick, it's sometimes a matter of life and death.
But Doyle said her pediatrician ran out of the vaccine, and now the Health Department has run out. She said she was told she may have to wait until later this month when her daughter's school, Swift Creek Elementary, has a clinic.
But that's only if vaccine is available. Doyle said she was told she can't take her daughter to another school's clinic.
When the Health Department holds clinics for the general public, "you would assume all the high-risk children have been taken care of," she said, referring to what happened at Monday night's clinics.
But as of yesterday afternoon, Nelson said no vaccine had arrived.
Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or hprestidge@timesdispatch.com.
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