IU starts 3rd H1N1 clinic

The third H1N1 vaccination clinic will begin today and continue through Wednesday.
In addition to already reserved spaces, 860 extra vaccines will be distributed on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Steve Chaplin, assistant managing editor for the Office of University Communications.

“That’s not enough to open another day,” he said. “It’s easier to make those extra available in the scheduled time frame.”

Hugh Jessop, director of the IU Health Center, said the center received 8,900 doses of the vaccine right before Thanksgiving and opened the second clinic on Wednesday last week. People who had reserved spaces for Wednesday of weeks one and two were told to come in to receive the shot.

“The state realized how well we did with the first clinic, so they gave us more vaccines,” Jessop said. “They called us since then and asked us if we need more.”

Jessop said when the organizers of the clinic saw how smoothly the distribution went, they decided to include more people on each day of the clinic, also opening up additional spots.

“I think they’re doing twice as many per hour and still getting people out of there in 10 minutes or less,” Chaplin said.

Today’s clinic will distribute the vaccinations to people who reserved spaces on Monday of weeks two and three, Jessop said. Tuesday the vaccinations will be distributed to those that signed up for Tuesday of weeks one and two, and those that signed up for Wednesday of week three, as well as the extra spaces that people can still reserve, will be given on Wednesday.

Reported H1N1 cases have lessened, Jessop said, but the virus has not gone away completely. The health center has seen about 1,600 reported cases since the start of the semester, he said, but there is still a large pool of people that could get the virus.

“By the time we get to March, it will be a full year that the virus has been around,” Jessop said. “Ninety-five percent of our students haven’t had the disease. In the past, we didn’t have the vaccine. Now, if you make an appointment for Tuesday, you know you’re getting it on Tuesday.”

The vaccine is free to all eligible IU students, faculty and staff, and the entire process takes less than 10 minutes to get through, Jessop said.

“Clearly there’s no problem getting in,” he said. “But you do have to have an appointment. People walk in with the reservation in their hands and the only time they sit down is to get the shot.”