Nearly 2,000 vaccinated at flu clinic

Nearly 2,000 people were vaccinated against the seasonal flu on Saturday in a mass flu clinic in Minden.

A total of 1,798 people walked into Douglas High School for either a shot or a nasal mist inoculation. The number of people using the drive-through are not available yet.

East Fork Deputy Chief Steve Tognoli said the event went smoothly. He estimated there were about 200 doses of vaccine left at the event's end.

There were nearly 300 people waiting for the clinic to open at 9 a.m. Saturday.

County Commission Chairwoman Nancy McDermid was working the counter at the door of the high school and said some people told her they'd been waiting since 7 a.m.

By Saturday afternoon, the lines had dropped and people were able to fill out their paperwork and get vaccinated in less than 10 minutes.

Some participants seemed reluctant to take the flu mist, which consisted of weakened live flu virus, as opposed to the shot. Those 2-49 years old are allowed to use the mist.

Volunteers from the Douglas County Sheriff's Senior Patrol, American Red Cross, Carson City Health & Human Services and the Sheriff's Explorers helped out at the clinic.

The shots were not for the H1N1 swine flu, but the seasonal virus, which is responsible for 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year.

Those who wanted a H1N1 swine flu vaccine would have had to be in Las Vegas on Saturday, the first place in the state where a public inoculation clinic has been held.

Those vaccinations were limited to members of priority groups, including pregnant women, caregivers for infants, health care and emergency medical care personnel children 6 months to 4 years old and children with chronic medical conditions between 5 and 18 years old.

According to the State Health Division, swine flu inoculation clinics will be listed on their Web site at http://flu.nv.gov. Only Clark County has listed a clinic so far.

"Due to the limited quantity of vaccine available, there hasn't been any public H1N1 flu clinics scheduled for people who are in target groups," State Health Officer Dr. Tracey Green said. "We anticipate having enough vaccine to have larger vaccination clinics for H1N1 by November."

Green encouraged people to keep checking the flu locator link for updates.

In the meantime, Green encouraged Nevadans to continue to take preventative measures, including getting a seasonal flu vaccination, cough or sneeze into your sleeve, wash your hands often with soap and water, avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, avoid close contact with sick people and if you're sick, stay home and limit contact with others.

The Centers of Disease Control reports that the flu is already widespread in Nevada, and all but a few states.