Five hundred people waited in line at Hazel Hawkins Hospital
Monday morning, some arriving around 3am to get first dibs on flu
shots at the only public clinic currently available to high-risk
county residents.
Hollister – Five hundred people waited in line at Hazel Hawkins Hospital Monday morning, some arriving around 3am to get first dibs on flu shots at the only public clinic currently available to high-risk county residents.
Hazel Hawkins got its shipment of approximately 1,000 vaccines last week, and after vaccinating all of its health care personnel doled out 500 of the shots Monday, said Marian Anderson, director of the emergency department. The hospital will be holding another public clinic today from 5pm to 8pm to give out the remaining approximately 200 shots, Anderson said.
“If we have more we’ll give it – we’ll give it ’til it’s gone,” she said. “I’m not trying to be vague, but we won’t know (exactly how many people will receive vaccinations) right until the bloody end.”
Lines such as the one at Hazel Hawkins are becoming commonplace around the country due to a nation-wide flu shot vaccine shortage after a major manufacturer, Chiron, had its license suspended for three months because of vaccine contamination issues.
The company was to ship between 46 to 48 million doses to the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Monday’s clinic started at 7am and ran until 10am, and by the time Hollister resident Pat Ward showed up at 7:15am she was already number 473 in line, she said.
Waiting in line for a couple hours in the early morning chill didn’t bother Ward, who passed the time visiting with a friend, she said.
But when Hollister resident Desiree Dominguez arrived at Hazel Hawkins a little before 7am, she was appalled to see the number of elderly and chronically ill people waiting outside in the dark, she said.
Dominguez said the hospital should have planned to accommodate the throngs of people better instead of making them sit in lawn chairs, wrapped in blankets to ward off the cold.
“The sun was barely coming up and to see a crowd of elderly people standing outside in the cold with their walkers and wheelchairs was kind of heart breaking,” she said. “To have that population of people outside, first thing in the morning, was kind of ridiculous.”
Dominguez suggested the hospital have the clinic somewhere where people don’t have to wait in the cold, such as the Veterans Memorial Building or Bolado Park.
But because the hospital didn’t know when it would receive its vaccines and put together the clinic at the last minute, organizers didn’t have any choice but to make patients wait outside, Anderson said.
Anderson said they held the Monday clinic in the early morning and today’s clinic in the evening so everyone trying to get a vaccine had an opportunity to receive one.
Hollister resident Marjorie Brice, who arrived around 8:45am and was one of the last 15 people granted a vaccine Monday, felt fortunate the weather behaved and no one was left standing in the rain or in the heat.
“I don’t mind the wait. We can handle it if it helps us to keep from getting the flu,” she said. “Everybody says go get a flu shot, so we go do it.”
The only people eligible for a flu shot this season are those considered high-risk, which are children age 6 to 23 months, adults age 65 and older, nursing home residents, pregnant women and anyone age 2 to 64 with a chronic medical condition.
While the hospital turned away about 20 people eligible for the shot and several people who didn’t fit the high-risk criteria, public relations director Frankie Valent said those who were denied a shot were very understanding.
“Everybody’s been really great,” Valent said. “It was really very positive.”
Anyone eligible for a flu shot can arrive as early as 3pm for the clinic at Hazel Hawkins Hospital located at 911 Sunset Drive in Hollister, or call 637-5711.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety and health for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
