October 27, 2009

People from across the region lined up Tuesday in Louisa County to get their swine flu vaccinations.

Every dose matters. President Obama declared a health emergency over the weekend to expedite H1N1 vaccinations, but many parts of the country are doing without.

However, in Louisa County, a high risk clinic had the vaccine. Kids, pregnant women, and the elderly showed up to get the vaccination. There was a lot of concern whether or not people should get the vaccine, but one parent weighed her options, eventually choosing to get the vaccine. Those who got the vaccine were surprised by the short lines.

"That's why they have those huge lollipops, because I thought the wait would be significant," says Stephanie Harpin, a Louisa County resident.

There wasn't a big wait yet, but that also has to do with the number of doses a health district gets. Monday, health workers in Louisa County thought they were only going to receive 100 doses, but the state gave them 500 more Tuesday morning. One woman wasn't going to go to the clinic until her sister told her the clinic had extra doses.

While this is good news for Louisa, other parts of the country had worse luck. At a high school in Ohio, thousands showed up and waited in line for hours.

"As soon as it's made they're making it available," says Dr. Lillian Peake, a health official with the Thomas Jefferson Health District. "We're doing our last doses that we have this week."

It's up to each state to decide how many doses of H1N1 vaccine each health district gets, and it's need based.

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