Saturday's supply of H1N1 vaccine runs out - more to come

November 10, 8:40 PMSanta Cruz Parenting ExaminerSuki Wessling

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Residents of Santa Cruz County stood up to 6 hours on Saturday in a long, patient line at the County Health building on Emeline Avenue. They were waiting to get their children vaccinated for the H1N1 (swine) flu, and about a thousand of them met their goal.

"My understanding is that when we got to one thousand, they were notified that they would not get the vaccine," states Socorro Gutierrez of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency.

The 6-hour clinic to distribute the free vaccine to the highest risk population - children, pregnant women, and those with certain health complications - attracted more residents than available doses.

Some families chose not to wait out the long line, and others were surprised to find out that healthy children were only eligible for the nasal spray ("live") vaccine.

One anti-vaccine protester was sighted with a t-shirt bearing anti-vaccine slogans, but otherwise, the crowd was orderly and patient.

"We saw and talked with lots of parents who probably would think that the anti-vaccine folks are living in pre-polio past," says educator and father of two, Robert Morgan. "The parents and grandparents we talked with side with 21st century science and not 19th century superstition."

Though Santa Cruz is a hot-spot for anti-vaccine activism and concern over the safety of vaccines, many parents are worried about H1N1, which is hitting young children particularly hard.

Medical doctors, public health officials, and most epidemiologists who study vaccines and their side-effects say that there is no controversy: Getting a vaccine is always safer than getting the flu or any of the other diseases that are routinely vaccinated against.

Santa Cruz families who are still unvaccinated can look forward to more vaccine appearing in the near future.

"The issue was more about the actual rollout of the vaccine and how Santa Cruz County did get quite a bit of doses at the beginning and now we're slowing down because we've gotten our allocation in a certain timeframe," Gutierrez explains. "They're focusing on other areas, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to get more."

In anticipation of receiving more vaccine, an open vaccine clinic has been scheduled for this Saturday, November 14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Watsonville Youth Center. More information is available on the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency H1N1 information website.

For more info: See Feds monitoring safety of H1N1 flu vaccine, The Centers for Disease Control H1N1 information, Influenza 101, Vaccine shortages in Santa Clara County, CDC sees no decrease in autism rates since vaccines are thimerosal free, and Keeping H1N1 at bay in your school.