Hundreds of people braved lines and an early morning chill to get their children immunized for swine and seasonal flu today, as Cobb County set up an all-day mass flu clinic.
Health officials said the clinic had already dispensed over 700 vaccines in the first three hours of operation and the people keep coming. The clinic, which will be open to 7 p.m., had dispensed 544 swine flu vaccines and 169 seasonal flu vaccines.
People said they came because of concern about the swine flu, which has already claimed 1,000 lives in the U.S. They also said they were worried about reports that the swine flu vaccine is in short supply and that the production of the vaccine is lagging behind schedule.
But mostly they came to protect their kids.
"We thought it was important to get the kids vaccinated, since we've heard of cases of children who have died," said Brad Bunn, 37, of Smyrna, who arrived with his three children.
The health department for Cobb and Douglas counties is offering the vaccines at the Cobb County Safety Village at 1220 Al Bishop Dr. in Marietta.
The swine flu vaccine will be free, and the agency has 3,200 doses of the swine flu mist. It does not have swine flu shots.
Due to limited production of the swine flu vaccine, the agency is providing the nasal mist only to the following individuals and asking all others to wait until vaccine inventories substantially increase:
- Healthy individuals 2-24 years of age who are not pregnant, do not have asthma or other chronic medical conditions.
- Healthy individuals 25 -- 49 years of age who live with or care for infants younger than 6 months of age, or who are health care or emergency medical personnel.
Seasonal flu vaccine will also be provided to low-income children 6 months through 18 years of age for $14, or to other children and adults for $25.
For more information: www.CobbandDouglasPublicHealth.org.
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