Public Health Department to Hold H1N1 Flu Vaccination Clinic (Health Event)

Posted on November 5, 2009  |   Posted in Blog, Chronic Illness, Uncategorized   |   Comments 12 Comments  
Guilford County Department of Public Health will hold a H1N1 flu vaccination clinic this Saturday, November 7 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for children age 6 months to 18 years of age, college students, and pregnant women only.
The clinic will be held in the Medlin Center at GTCC at 601 High Point Road in Jamestown.  The Department of Public Health has nearly 6,000 doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine to administer.  The vaccine will be given to these individuals on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointment is needed. There will be no out of pocket expense to individuals.  Individuals should bring their insurance or Medicaid card if they have one.  In addition, college students should bring their college identification cards.
The GTCC campus will be open at 8:00 a.m.; there will be no access to campus prior to 8:00 a.m.  The Medlin Center and parking is accessible from High Point Road, across the street from Ragsdale High School.  Upon arrival, individuals will be assessed to make sure they are in the priority groups. Interested individuals should be aware of traffic detours in the area; these are clearly marked.  Individuals coming from the High Point area may want to travel Kivett Drive, turn left on Harvey Road, turn left on Vickery Chapel Road and then right on East Main Street.  The entrance to GTCC will be off East Main Street, on the left.
Individuals who are moderately to severely ill are advised to wait until they recover to get the vaccine. Those with a mild cold or other illness should be able to get the vaccine. No one should get the vaccine if allergic to eggs or to any other substance in the vaccine, have had Guillain Barré Syndrome or a life-threatening reaction following a flu vaccine.
“We are excited to be able to offer this much vaccine to our community at one time,” states Merle Green, Health Director.  “We are anxious to continue our vaccination efforts for children, college students and pregnant women since we know these three groups are most adversely affected by this virus. If we can help keep these folks healthy, all of us benefit.”
For more information about this event, call 641-7777 or visit www.guilfordhealth.org and click on the H1N1 flu vaccine availability link.

Guilford County Department of Public Health will hold a H1N1 flu vaccination clinic this Saturday, November 7 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for children age 6 months to 18 years of age, college students, and pregnant women only.

The clinic will be held in the Medlin Center at GTCC at 601 High Point Road in Jamestown.  The Department of Public Health has nearly 6,000 doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine to administer.  The vaccine will be given to these individuals on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointment is needed. There will be no out of pocket expense to individuals.  Individuals should bring their insurance or Medicaid card if they have one.  In addition, college students should bring their college identification cards.

The GTCC campus will be open at 8:00 a.m.; there will be no access to campus prior to 8:00 a.m.  The Medlin Center and parking is accessible from High Point Road, across the street from Ragsdale High School.  Upon arrival, individuals will be assessed to make sure they are in the priority groups. Interested individuals should be aware of traffic detours in the area; these are clearly marked.  Individuals coming from the High Point area may want to travel Kivett Drive, turn left on Harvey Road, turn left on Vickery Chapel Road and then right on East Main Street.  The entrance to GTCC will be off East Main Street, on the left.

Individuals who are moderately to severely ill are advised to wait until they recover to get the vaccine. Those with a mild cold or other illness should be able to get the vaccine. No one should get the vaccine if allergic to eggs or to any other substance in the vaccine, have had Guillain Barré Syndrome or a life-threatening reaction following a flu vaccine.

“We are excited to be able to offer this much vaccine to our community at one time,” states Merle Green, Health Director.  “We are anxious to continue our vaccination efforts for children, college students and pregnant women since we know these three groups are most adversely affected by this virus. If we can help keep these folks healthy, all of us benefit.”

For more information about this event, call 641-7777 or visit www.guilfordhealth.org and click on the H1N1 flu vaccine availability link.

12 Comments to “Public Health Department to Hold H1N1 Flu Vaccination Clinic (Health Event)”

  • November 6, 2009 at 11:29 am
    Jen says:

    First of all, I want to say thank you for holding these clinics. I read on the News and Record website that a ticket system will be used. Would you be able to get a ticket, leave and return at a later time to try and avoid waiting in line for hours?

    http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/11/05/article/county_to_offer_more_h1n1_doses

  • November 6, 2009 at 12:49 pm
    Dr Ward Robinson says:

    I really think it would be a mistake to grab a ticket and leave because I can not guarantee that traffic will allow you to return at your convenience. We are anticipating and preparing for a very big turn out tomorrow. GTCC has cancelled classes. State Patrol and county sheriff and campus police will be directing traffic and helping with directing people where they need to be.

    It’s going to be first come, first served for tickets… and although we have thousands of vaccines, they aren’t necessarily going to be in the category you want (flumist versus injection).

    If you get a ticket, I’d stay in line. We’re using the ticket system to try to prevent people from having to wait and then find out we don’t have any vaccine at all.

    Bring layers because it will be cold tomorrow morning. Bring a book and your IPod. Bring fruit and water for the kids. We’ll have the TVs turned to Disney and the Cartoon Network. We’ll make the wait as short as we can.

  • November 6, 2009 at 7:59 pm
    Bob says:

    Will this be the dead virus shot or the live virus nasal vaccine? My daughter got the flu the last 2 times she received the nasal vaccine.

  • November 6, 2009 at 11:42 pm
    Dr Ward Robinson says:

    we have both.

  • November 9, 2009 at 8:16 am
    Ashley says:

    Will they have the “thimerisol free” version for pregnant women available?

  • November 9, 2009 at 9:50 am
    Dr Ward Robinson says:

    We did bring thimerosal free vaccine to the clinic. However, your question is this morning (Monday 9 November) and the clinic was two days ago. We have some left, but don’t anticipate a new large “mass” clinic on the same scale any time soon. We’ll be getting more vaccine in from time to time and will continue our efforts to get it to the community through multiple channels.

  • November 9, 2009 at 3:46 pm
    Lesley says:

    My child is 15 months and was fortunate enough to receive the H1N1 shot at the clinic on Saturday. Did he receive the thimerosal free vaccine or did we have to ask for this particular version. Great job on a great clinic. I was highly impressed with the speed of the line and the organization.

  • November 9, 2009 at 4:18 pm
    Dr Ward Robinson says:

    We were giving both…mostly thimerosal free at that age; so if you send me your child’s name and date of birth we’ll look it up in our records from the weekend and let you know (send your message to wrobins@co.guilford.health.nc.us…please don’t post it here for confidentiality reasons)

    But as they say in public health, this is a teachable moment. Despite all the hoopla about thimerosal, multiple studies have consistently and uniformly shown that thimerosal poses no risk to human health. It to me is a great example of straining at gnats and swallowing camels. There is so much more concerning exposures we undergo everyday that could have significant health consequences to us, yet we think nothing about it (do you know what’s in hot dogs…actually neither do I but I know exactly what’s in the vaccines).
    So the answer is “your wonderful child probably got thimerosal free vaccine, but let us check on it”… But also it would be perfectly fine had he/she had the vaccine with thimerosal anyway.

    And I do thank you so much for your kind comments. We will be holding more clinics in the future so that your precious one can get their follow-up dose.

  • November 12, 2009 at 1:17 pm
    Maureen says:

    Unfortunately we couldn’t make it last Saturday. Will there be more vaccination clinics offered in the next month?

  • November 12, 2009 at 1:48 pm
    Dr Ward Robinson says:

    Yes we will be holding more open clinics very soon. But we are also taking some of the vaccine we have and giving it to the private providers in the community to help get it into use faster. Check with your doctor if you have one and see if they have some. If not, we will be announcing our efforts next week in press and on this blog and the guilfordhealth.org site.

  • November 14, 2009 at 7:33 pm
    Matthew says:

    Are the clinics open to residents of other counties (e.g. Forsyth County residents)? How is it determined whether injectable or flumist vaccine will be administered to an individual?

  • November 14, 2009 at 11:21 pm
    Dr Ward Robinson says:

    You are welcome to come to our clinics. Even if you live in Forsyth you are still family.

    The second question is more difficult to answer. First we ask for preference. Then we check to see if you have asthma…can’t take flumist since it might trigger an asthma attack. If you are pregnant you can’t take flumist (although there isn’t really any reason you couldn’t, use of any live vaccine during pregnancy is frowned upon). If you have a bone marrow transplant, you can’t take flumist….even if it’s an attenuated virus…it’s still live.
    If you are really young, or over 49 you can’t take flumist (not that it’s harmful…it’s just that the company only asked for the over 2 to under 49 age range on flumist so that’s what the FDA approved and that’s what we use as our guide.)

    For more information you can check with two sites…http://www.flumist.com and http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/general.htm

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