Most have an easy time at H1N1 clinics
The five H1N1 clinics in Monroe County drew more than 8,000 people Saturday, matching the turnout from earlier in the week while keeping lines shorter and moving faster.
The clinics at the Blue Cross Arena, Medley Centre, Penfield Town Hall, West End Business Center and First Bible Baptist Church ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but crowds started forming much earlier at some.
The lines at the First Bible Baptist Church in Hilton began forming at about 5:30 a.m.
The 10 free clinics on Thursday and Saturday immunized more than 16,000 people, according to county health officials.
In a change from Thursday, when some people were turned away because lines had grown too large, most of Saturday’s clinics had “very modest” wait times, said Monroe County Health Department spokesman John Ricci.
“We were very pleased with how today went,” Ricci said Saturday night. “The lines were much more manageable.”
He said that Penfield Town Hall received about 2,200 people and First Bible Baptist Church received about 1,700. The rest of the 8,000 people were split fairly evenly among the three other sites.
Health officials added more staff to the clinics Saturday to avoid some of Thursday’s delays, Ricci said.
He said none of the sites ran out of the vaccine, but Penfield Town Hall and the First Bible Baptist Church received some extra quantities during the day to avoid a shortage.
Penfield Town Hall stopped accepting new people at 4 p.m. because the lines there had grown to several hundred people, Ricci said. The lines at First Bible Baptist Church were also long, but the other three sites moved more quickly, Ricci said.
Several people at the Blue Cross Arena on Saturday afternoon said they were stunned at how fast things were moving.
“I’m surprised,” said Michael Jerome Bowberg of Rochester. “It’s just bing, bing, bing.”
Sarah Rathbun of Rochester was also surprised by the quick pace, saying that she had “expected to wait for two hours.”
Corey Gavette of Fairport said he went to the arena because he was working downtown.
Gavette said that his girlfriend tried to take their 6-year-old son to the clinic at Penfield Town Hall on Thursday afternoon but was told that there wasn’t enough vaccine left.
“She said she got pretty frustrated,” Gavette said.
On Thursday, the clinic at the First Bible Baptist Church in Hilton had to close early because it ran out of doses.
But on Saturday morning, the lines there were flowing so smoothly that no one had time to watch the movies set up to help families kill the time.
Mary Younge of the Monroe County Health Department said about 500 people were lined up when they opened the doors at 10 a.m., and by 11 a.m., 210 of them had received their shots.
At noon, the clinic had issued 500 doses and the wait was about two hours.
“The lines are moving really fast,” said Amy Spall of Greece. “Once we got in, we were out in about an hour.”
Spall and her husband, Ray Spall, were getting shots for their two children, Tyler, 5, and Kira, 10. Tyler has asthma.
“He had a cold last week and I was real worried he would get the flu,” Amy said. “It was worth the wait to get this taken care of.”
Ray also has asthma and he waited five hours Thursday for a shot at the clinic in Irondequoit.
It is not clear if more free clinics are on the way. Ricci said it will depend on the amount of vaccine that is available.
“That will largely be driven by how much vaccine we get and how quickly we get it,” he said.
