Long lines in Carson City for flu shots

Long lines awaited people looking for flu shots at the Carson City Raley's on Friday, and the same could be true today.

A Raley's official said 480 people received shots at the Carson store on Friday and that the store was expecting another 280-300 today.

Spokeswoman Carolyn White said the store is advising people to come in early.

"We're going to be running 500 people a day through our stores," she said. "With that kind of volume, there are going to be lines."

She said one problem the stores are running into is the number of nurses administering the shots.

"There's a shortage of nurses to administer the vaccine," she said. "We do all we can to find people. If we can't find people, we can't find them. We realize how difficult it is for the people who have to wait."

Minden resident David Cooper said he was in line for 25 minutes before he realized it was barely moving.

"They told us at a quarter after 2 that we would get our shots between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.," he said. "There was no way we were going to stand in that line. If you haven't moved two feet, you get the clue."

Cooper estimated the line at 100 yards long and, at 61 years old, he was one of the youngsters.

"It looked like I was the youngest person there," he said. "We're talking about old people. Some of them were in wheelchairs and this and that. How can they stand in line for two-and-a-half hours?"

White warned that people seeking shots would be advised to bring a stool or something to sit on if they can't stand.

She said that some stores have run short of vaccine.

"In some spots we're running a little short, but we have people who are taking it from one location to another," she said.

Employees at the Carson Raley's served coffee and doughnuts to people standing in line in an effort to provide people with some comfort.

"The best we can do is make this service available," she said. "This is just a service that Raley's is offering to the community."