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The Arlington Health Department vaccinated nearly 1,000 people against flu and pneumonia at the family clinic on October 8th. The clinic was run as an emergency planning exercise to practice plans for future H1N1 vaccination clinics. As part of the practice, the department sets up to put thousands of people through the clinic per hour.
Due to a nationwide shortage of seasonal flu vaccine, and a lack of vaccine at physicians offices, pharmacy clinics and other public health clinics, we saw a record number of people seeking the seasonal flu shot at our public clinic this year.
At our clinic we were armed with 510 doses of injectable seasonal flu vaccine, 450 nasal seasonal flu mist vaccines and 200 pneumonia vaccines.
Seasonal flu activity does not peak in Massachusetts until January and February, which is why we typically run our seasonal flu shot clinics into December each year. This year, the Centers for Disease Control urged local public health departments to give out seasonal flu vaccine earlier than usual in order to focus November vaccination efforts entirely on H1N1 vaccine. The Arlington Health Department purchases vaccine and also receives vaccine from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. To date, shipments of seasonal flu vaccine has been slower than originally anticipated because there was a recent shift at the federal level to prioritize the H1N1 vaccine production over seasonal flu vaccine.
By vaccinating nearly 1,000 people in three hours, the Arlington Health Department was able to determine how to improve plans for efficiency for upcoming clinics. Clinics are staffed and operated with assistance from many town departments including, Fire, Police, DPW, Council on Aging, community agencies such as Armstrong Ambulance, Visiting Nurses Association and the Arlington Medical Reserve Corps. Vaccinating the public against the flu and pneumonia is an important service that the Arlington Health Department is happy to provide each year and could not run without the support and assistance from these community partners.
Please NOTE: The October 15 Flu Clinic is being postponed until further notice. Please subscribe to Town of Arlington Notices as we will send out the new date when it is know. To find other flu clinics in the area, please vist the Massachusetts Public Flu Clinic Finder online here.
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