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Hundreds show up to get H1N1 vaccine

Photo

Photo by Dan Plutchak

Brent Douglas, 6, of Elkhorn sits on his mom, Kris's lap while he receives an H1N1 flu vaccination Monday at the Walworth County Health Department in Elkhorn. Brent was born with a heart condition that required two open-heart surgeries when he was young, and another surgery coming up in the near future.

Photo

Photo by Dan Plutchak

A Walworth County Public Health worker prepares a dose of H1N1 vaccine Monday. The county received a shipment of 1,500 doses, which they began administering Monday afternoon.

ELKHORN — Elkhorn resident Scott Douglas was relieved when his son Brent received the swine flu vaccine in Walworth County on Monday afternoon.

Douglas was concerned his family wouldn't get the vaccine after being turned away at Waukesha and Rock counties when clinics there ran out of doses.

"We have been looking for it everywhere," he said.

At age 6, Brent has had two open-heart surgeries and is expected to have another soon, Douglas said. That puts the boy in the at-risk category along with pregnant women, caregivers of children up to 4 years, health care workers and children ages 5 to 18 who have certain medical conditions.

So Douglas took a half-day vacation and arrived at the clinic around noon, about two hours before it was supposed to start. Though early, Douglas and his family weren't the first ones to arrive.

"There were people here since 8:30 this morning," a health care worker said while observing the lengthy procession of families waiting for the vaccine.

Walworth County Health Officer Pat Grove said the county's public health department had about 400 doses Monday morning, which would not have been enough to cover the more than 500 people who came in to be vaccinated Monday afternoon.

Luckily, Grove said, county officials received a shipment of about 1,500 more doses that should last through at least the next vaccination clinic, scheduled to take place in Lake Geneva next week.

"We're hoping to get enough vaccines to start doing all school-aged children, not just those with medical conditions," she said.

As of Monday, Walworth County had 13 people hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, from a 1-month-old to a 67-year-old. Overall, there have been nearly 400 swine flu cases reported countywide, Grove said. No deaths have been reported this season, she added.

This is the second H1N1 vaccination clinic in Walworth County but the first one open to the public. Last week, about 200 health and emergency care workers were vaccinated, Grove said.