Got your shots??

Crowds greet region’s first H1N1 clinic
 
The first South Okanagan H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine clinic proceeded Monday morning November 2nd/09 in Oliver with the calm organization and dutiful citizenry patience of an election polling station, only with a little more crying.

Indeed, a good number of the more than 140 people who filed through the Oliver Senior Centre in the first hour alone were children, accompanied by a parent or caregiver, there to receive the H1N1 vaccine as part of the Interior Health’s effort to get the most at risk immunized first.

Those eligible for this first wave of clinics include children six months to under five years of age, pregnant women in the second half of pregnancy, persons under the age of 65 with chronic conditions, household contacts and care providers of infants under six months of age, household contacts and care providers of persons who are immunocompromised, persons residing in rural and remote communities — including the Aboriginal population and health care workers involved in responding to pandemic influenza.

Jen Sander and her seven-month-old son Ashton drove all the way from Summerland and waited in line for an hour-and-a-half to get the vaccine.

“The Summerland clinic is on Thursday but I didn’t want to take any chances so I drove here,” she said. “I wanted Ashton to get (the H1N1 vaccine) right away.”

Never having received any sort of flu shot before, Sander said that the decision to get herself, Ashton and eventually his father immunized was a hard one.

“It took me a long time to decide,” said Sander. “I called that (HealthLink BC) 8-1-1 number but it was too busy. And I did a lot of research online but it is hard to tell who is credible and who is not, on the internet.”

Sander said it came down to what her cousin, who is a doctor, told her.

“She told me to get the shot. She said that there are plenty of people in the ICU with the swine flu but there is nobody there because they got the vaccination.

“In the end, the only people we really have that we can listen to is our educated doctors. We should be listening to them and not some unknown person on the internet.”

With an outside lineup extending around the Seniors Centre and into the parking lot, clinic organizers and volunteers had 10 nursing stations set up inside the building, letting about the same number amount of people inside the centre every 10 minutes.

Shivering slightly in the cold, with about half-an-hour worth of lineup in-front and behind him, 62-year old Ron Wilson said that he doesn’t normally get the flu shot, but after hearing about a number of H1N1-related deaths in the news, he decided to take time off from his job at Outreach Neon sign shop and get the shot.

“I didn’t want to gamble on this particular flu,” said Sander. “I’d rather come here, wait in line and get the shot, than risk getting sick. Getting the vaccine is definitely worth the trouble.”

Inside, Jen and Ashton Sander made their way through the assessment area, both deemed eligible, and into a nursing station.

After a quick explanation on the potential for soreness, comparable to a tetanus shot, the Sanders got their vaccinations, Ashton’s dose a little smaller than his mother’s. The shot was quick and Ashton’s tears, perhaps more from shock than pain, were short-lived.

“He cried for a millisecond there,” said Sander with a smile. “But the shot didn’t hurt at all.”

First wave H1N1 clinics will continue all week starting today from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Osoyoos Seniors Centre (17 Park Place); Thursday at the Summerland Senior Citizen Drop-In (9710 Brown St.) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre on Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Nearly 50 clinics are being held throughout the Interior Health region. A flu clinic locator can be found at www.interiorhealth.ca or www.immunizebc.ca or by dialing 8-1-1, HealthLink BC’s 24 hour call-line.

Both H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccines are also available from many physicians and walk-in clinics, and in the coming weeks from some pharmacies.

Vaccine shots for those not included in the high-risk category, according to Interior Health, will be held after Nov. 9 with details still to be confirmed.

Thanks to Penticton’s Western Newspaper