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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101100549.html
Howard Flu-Shot Drive-In to Test Readiness
Clinic on Sunday Is Called One of the Largest of Its Kind
By Mary Otto
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page AA03
In an event being billed as one of the most ambitious drive-through flu clinics in the nation's history, Howard County health officials hope to immunize as many as 2,000 men, women and children Sunday.
The clinic will be located along the two-mile outer loop of Columbia Gateway Drive. Beyond getting people ready for the flu season, it will help the community test its ability to respond to a health emergency requiring the rapid and orderly distribution of a vaccine or other medication.
"That's the message we want to get out," said county health officer Penny E. Borenstein. "Not only will they get their vaccine, but they can help their community with mass clinic efforts."
The event will kick off a week of workshops and other activities that stress emergency readiness. Drive-through flu clinics are being offered in Howard and in some other places as a fast and barrier-free way of helping residents, especially seniors and the disabled, get protection against influenza.
Even with broad inoculation efforts, the influenza virus is blamed for 36,000 deaths a year in this country. Health officials worry that many thousands more lives could be claimed in the event of a pandemic, the worldwide outbreak of a new influenza virus, such as a new form of the avian flu virus.
With federal and state authorities stressing the need for preparedness, Howard's efforts to stage a large-scale drive-through immunization clinic have attracted high-level interest. Observers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health will be watching Sunday's clinic, Borenstein said.
Participants will simply drive up to the clinic, wait in their vehicles, bare their arms and get their flu shots. They need no appointments or parking spaces.
Nurses and other medical professionals expect to immunize between 300 and 500 people an hour at the drive-through clinic, double the number they typically can vaccinate at a walk-in clinic, Borenstein said.
The Howard County Health Department has enough vaccine to immunize the 1,500 to 2,000 people who are expected to attend, according to spokeswoman Lisa de Hernandez.
Participants are asked to wear short sleeves and to arrive no earlier than 11 a.m. The clinic is scheduled to end at 3 p.m.
The clinic can be reached by taking Route 175 to Columbia Gateway Drive. Police will direct traffic to the first stop, near the intersection of Albert Einstein Drive, where patient information will be collected and consent forms signed. From there, participants will be directed to the payment area and then to the vaccination lanes.
Both FluMist nasal vaccine, a weakened form of the flu virus that helps provide protection from the illness, and the traditional flu shot (recommended for people age 50 and older) will be available for $20 per vaccine. However, children age 5 through 11 will be eligible to receive the FluMist free through a partnership among state and federal agencies and MedImmune Inc., the vaccine manufacturer, based in Gaithersburg. The Health Department recommends the nasal vaccine for healthy people age 5 to 49.
Officials cite recent studies that have found vaccinating the school-age population also helps reduce the incidence of flu among all ages in the community.
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Howard Flu-Shot Drive-In to Test Readiness
Clinic on Sunday Is Called One of the Largest of Its Kind
By Mary Otto
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page AA03
In an event being billed as one of the most ambitious drive-through flu clinics in the nation's history, Howard County health officials hope to immunize as many as 2,000 men, women and children Sunday.
The clinic will be located along the two-mile outer loop of Columbia Gateway Drive. Beyond getting people ready for the flu season, it will help the community test its ability to respond to a health emergency requiring the rapid and orderly distribution of a vaccine or other medication.
"That's the message we want to get out," said county health officer Penny E. Borenstein. "Not only will they get their vaccine, but they can help their community with mass clinic efforts."
The event will kick off a week of workshops and other activities that stress emergency readiness. Drive-through flu clinics are being offered in Howard and in some other places as a fast and barrier-free way of helping residents, especially seniors and the disabled, get protection against influenza.
Even with broad inoculation efforts, the influenza virus is blamed for 36,000 deaths a year in this country. Health officials worry that many thousands more lives could be claimed in the event of a pandemic, the worldwide outbreak of a new influenza virus, such as a new form of the avian flu virus.
With federal and state authorities stressing the need for preparedness, Howard's efforts to stage a large-scale drive-through immunization clinic have attracted high-level interest. Observers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health will be watching Sunday's clinic, Borenstein said.
Participants will simply drive up to the clinic, wait in their vehicles, bare their arms and get their flu shots. They need no appointments or parking spaces.
Nurses and other medical professionals expect to immunize between 300 and 500 people an hour at the drive-through clinic, double the number they typically can vaccinate at a walk-in clinic, Borenstein said.
The Howard County Health Department has enough vaccine to immunize the 1,500 to 2,000 people who are expected to attend, according to spokeswoman Lisa de Hernandez.
Participants are asked to wear short sleeves and to arrive no earlier than 11 a.m. The clinic is scheduled to end at 3 p.m.
The clinic can be reached by taking Route 175 to Columbia Gateway Drive. Police will direct traffic to the first stop, near the intersection of Albert Einstein Drive, where patient information will be collected and consent forms signed. From there, participants will be directed to the payment area and then to the vaccination lanes.
Both FluMist nasal vaccine, a weakened form of the flu virus that helps provide protection from the illness, and the traditional flu shot (recommended for people age 50 and older) will be available for $20 per vaccine. However, children age 5 through 11 will be eligible to receive the FluMist free through a partnership among state and federal agencies and MedImmune Inc., the vaccine manufacturer, based in Gaithersburg. The Health Department recommends the nasal vaccine for healthy people age 5 to 49.
Officials cite recent studies that have found vaccinating the school-age population also helps reduce the incidence of flu among all ages in the community.
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