Low Turnout for H1N1 Vaccine
Save Email Print
Bookmark and Share
Updated: 7:14 PM Nov 20, 2009
Low Turnout for H1N1 Vaccine
Harrisonburg, Va.
The H1N1 flu vaccine was offered at James Madison University faculty, staff, students and their families Friday morning, but not many on campus took advantage of the opportunity.
Posted: 5:19 PM Nov 20, 2009
Reporter: Keith Jones
Email Address: kjones@whsv.com
width:200 and height: 131 and picwidth: 200 and pciheight: 131
Font Size:

The H1N1 flu vaccine was offered at James Madison University faculty, staff, students and their families Friday morning, but not many on campus took advantage of the opportunity.

Few people were coming to the Festival Conference and Student Center during the morning hours. In fact, a health official says they've administered less than 50 vaccinations in a couple of hours.

Around the Commonwealth, colleges aren't seeing that great a turnout. Intravene Travel Clinic is in charge of the vaccinations, and it visited the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech earlier this week.

Intravene nurse Mary Ruth Davis says they took about 4,000 doses to each campus and just over 2,000 were administered at each.

She says, "I think people are not coming because they think there will be long lines. That's what I think it is, and we don't have long lines right now, and the longest wait has been about 30 minutes. Even when there is a line, it's about 30 minutes."

Friday is the last day of classes before Thanksgiving break, which school officials say could attribute to the lack of turnout. Davis says about 3,500 doses are available at the clinic. The cost of the vaccine is $19.96.

By the end of the clinic Friday, officials say about 1,000 vaccines were given.


Latest Comments

Posted by: Orgel56 on Nov 20, 2009 at 10:34 PM

I don't know how much this might have affected the turnout, but when the notice plainly states "NO FLEX ACCEPTED", that just might have been a serious turnoff to those that had credit on their Flex accounts, but no cash, etc.....
Healthy Living