Worried parents of young children flocked to a Swine Flu Vaccine Clinic at the Historical Society today. But as soon as the doors opened at 2pm, the site was at capacity and officials starting turning others away.
Parents pushing strollers arrived at the Historical Society up to 5 hours early to have their young children vaccinated against swine flu. By about 1:30, the line wrapped part of the way around the facility. The H1N1 vaccine clinic, held by Columbus Public Health, targeted children from 6 months to 4 years and pregnant women.
Liza Paul and her 18 month old son Dominic arrived around 11:30 to wait in line for the vaccine. She says the whole process moved smoothly.
"I think they did a great job, they were organized. It was really fast once they opened the clinic, and it seems to be moving along. The nurses know what they're doing and the staff is pretty reassuring," says Paul.
The clinic was open from 2 to 5, but parents who did NOT get in line early were turned away. Liza Kane, whose daughter Zophia is 11 months old, was one of those parents. She arrived at the Historical Society just before 2pm.
"I figured it would be really crowded and I would have to stand in line a long time, but I didn't imagine coming here and them already saying, Bye,'" says Kane.
The clinic was to administer up to 15 hundred doses of vaccine. Columbus Public Health spokesperson Jose Rodriguez says he wasn't surprised by how early or how many people arrived. Rodriguez says they're doing the best with what they have.
"We have a system in place that works, so once people get to our clinics, we move them fairly fast - we can do several hundred and hour. The challenge is having the vaccine - the supply - to protect them."
Future clinics are planned, but as to when, Columbus officials won't know until they get word of the timing and size of the next vaccine shipment from the federal government.