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ROCKFORD — The exercisers in the Curves for Women on South Alpine Road had an audience Friday morning.
Curves manager Mary Frew said the line of people seeking a seasonal flu shot at one of the final vaccine clinics the Winnebago County Health Department expects to hold until mid-November began forming 35 minutes before the vaccine arrived. The line stretched 15 to 40 people down the south wall of the gym for most of the two-hour clinic.
A second clinic, which the Health Department said Thursday will be the last until a new supply of vaccine arrives, was held Friday afternoon at Hononegah High School.
Sue Fuller, the department’s public information officer, said both clinics went well but now “we’re out.” Meanwhile, the department received its first shipment of the H1N1 flu vaccine Friday and will begin distributing it to high-risk populations Monday.
The department said it was suspending the seasonal flu and pneumonia clinics indefinitely because it did not receive expected deliveries of the vaccine and because of heavier-than-usual demand for the shots.
“The phone has been ringing all morning with people asking about it,” Frew said. “We host a clinic every year at all five of our locations, but I’ve never seen it busy like this before.”
Rex and Amy Harbison received shots along with their 4-year-old daughter, Layney. Rex Harbison said the family gets flu shots every year “but this year it’s much more important because of the extra threat of the H1N1 virus.”
He said they also plan to get an H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.
A few minutes before the Harbisons went through the line, Norris and Betty Anderson pulled out their Medicare Part B cards and rolled up their sleeves.
“We didn’t come because of the news that the shots would be suspended for a while,” Betty said. “We had been looking for a place to get shots, but the information we were finding was about clinics that already had taken place.”
She said she has gotten the flu shots regularly for several years but Norris was a recent convert. “He didn’t get the shot one year, and he got so sick he lost 15 pounds,” she said. “He was the first one in line for the shot the next year.”
Health Department Administrator Mike Bacon said Thursday that suspension of the clinics until a new supply of vaccine arrives does not mean there is none available in the county. Rehabilitation Associates of Northern Illinois, 6116 Mulford Village Drive, said Friday it has plenty of seasonal flu vaccine on hand.
Bacon said residents still seeking the vaccine “need to be patient and persistent.”
He also said November will not be too late to receive a flu shot “because, typically, November and December are when we are in full swing with our flu clinics. There will still be plenty of time, because our peak flu season doesn’t come on until January, February and March.”
Staff writer Mike DeDoncker can be reached at 815-987-1382 or mdedoncker@rrstar.com.
MORE FLU COVERAGE
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Oct. 15: Rockford schools urge H1N1 vaccination
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Sept. 25: Rockford schools prep with vaccines, masks
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Winnebago County Health Department
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