Faced with an unexpected turnout of residents wanting flu vaccines, county public health officials were forced to extend an immunization clinic Thursday by three hours.
Dr. Gregory O’Keefe, Public Health director, said nearly 300 vaccinations were administered, exhausting the department’s current supply.
Of the vaccine’s distributed, half received seasonal flu doses and half got H1N1 virus, or swine flu, doses, he said.
While the county health department expects more doses of both flu strains’ vaccines in the coming weeks, the unexpected attendance at Thursday’s clinic has resulted in the department changing how flu vaccines will be distributed.
O’Keefe said the department on Tuesdays and Thursdays holds regular immunization clinics, meant for several non-flu vaccines, at the county office building, in Herkimer.
As the extended clinic Thursday was part of this type of regular immunization schedule, adding to the demand on employees, O’Keefe said in the future flu shots will be distributed at separate clinics.
The seasonal flu and swine flu will each have their own separate distribution clinic dates set in the coming weeks as doses are made available, he said.
As school districts, which are the front lines for spreading the virus, continue to monitor attendance rates, O’Keefe said that reported cases of any flu-like illnesses are assumed to be H1N1. Despite school districts announcing cases of seasonal flu, O’Keefe said over 90 percent of state tests on flu samples have returned positive for H1N1.
O’Keefe said local churches and school districts, as well as other similar public buildings, will be utilized as clinic sites. And private health care providers in the region are also in the process of distributing vaccines, he added.