After inching along Route 175 for two hours Sunday morning, Amy Kaplan and her two children were told they'd have to head home without the seasonal flu vaccine they expected to receive.

Kaplan, who lives in Laurel, was among the thousands who lined up for free inoculations at the Oct. 4 county-sponsored drive-through flu clinic.

Her car also was among the 1,000 turned away when doses of the vaccine ran out that afternoon.

Howard County health officer Dr. Peter Beilenson said officials knew they would run through 5,700 doses of the vaccine and began turning the lines away around 12:30 p.m.

The county has since received more than 30 complaints from residents who did not get vaccinated, he said.

"It was extremely easy for most people," Beilenson said. "Obviously, people at the back of the line had complaints."

Kaplan, who said her family gets flu shots each year, usually from a clinic, said the county should have had a better plan to handle the crowds.

"I could think of 101 things I could have been doing that day or even those two hours," she said.

Even though the county had 1,800 more doses of the vaccine at this year's drive-through clinic compared to last year's clinic, Beilenson said increased attention on seasonal flu and the new H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, likely prompted more people to come to the clinic than in past years.

The county has ordered several thousand more doses of the seasonal flu vaccine, but delivery is slow due to distribution of a separate vaccine for H1N1, expected to arrive in Maryland soon, Beilenson said.

"We ordered plenty," he said. "It's just that the vaccine is coming in very slowly."

More vaccines at senior expo

The county will offer 1,000 doses of the seasonal flu vaccine at its 50+EXPO Oct. 16 at Wilde Lake High School.

However, there will not be another large-scale clinic because officials are focused on dispensing the H1N1 vaccine, he said.

Once the swine flu vaccine is ready for distribution, the county will host 103 clinics, targeting at-risk populations, mostly at schools and at Howard Community College.

For more information about flu prevention and how to get vaccinated in Howard County call 410-313-6503 or go to www.hchealth.org.

Health department officials also canceled an after-school flu clinic for elementary school-age children scheduled for Oct. 8.

The clinic, which would have inoculated children using the FluMist nasal spray, was canceled because health officials must wait four weeks between spray vaccinations and most children will receive the H1N1 via the mist in coming weeks.

FluMist has already been administered in 16 of the county's 39 elementary schools.

"It's more important at this time for primary populations to get H1N1 than the seasonal (vaccine)," Beilenson said on Oct. 7, the day before the scheduled clinic.

He said it is unlikely that the clinic will be rescheduled.

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user comments (3)

user hocomudgeon says...

Welcome to government-run health care!

Posted 9:58 AM, 10.08.09 | Permalink

user asdfgh says...

you're welcome for the free flu shot, hocomudegon.

Posted 3:01 PM, 10.08.09 | Permalink

user milton says...

Waiting in line for two hours only to be turned away is hardly without cost, even ignoring the additional taxes that we pay so that Beilenson can pretend to be “Health Care Santa Claus” for the local and national news media. I think hocomudgeon is right on target. Yippee.

Posted 6:12 PM, 10.08.09 | Permalink