HEALTH: SENIORS JAM CENTER FOR FLU SHOTS

Hundreds of elderly Cape Girardeau residents count on the local senior center for annual flu shots, but few who packed the center Monday expected the anxious crowd that appeared for this year's shot clinic.

More than 600 people stood in a line which occasionally wrapped around the building, waiting to receive morning flu shots at the clinic sponsored by the senior center and Cape Girardeau County Public Health Department. Within two hours, more people had gathered than there were shots available.

The same was true in Jackson, Mo., where people had to be turned away because nurses had used all the vaccine. There is a well publicized, nationwide shortage of flu vaccine this year because a strain of the virus didn't develop as quickly as normal.

People were waiting in line at 7 a.m. when the Cape Girardeau Senior Center opened, two hours before the clinic was to begin, said Susan McClanahan, director. The final shot was administered at 1:15 p.m.

There was a near traffic jam as drivers circled the parking lot waiting for spaces to open up. Some people parked as far away as the public library, nearly three blocks from the center.

Shot recipient Finley Maddox said he once worked for a pharmaceutical sales company that helped develop early influenza vaccines. He remembered a year when virus contamination caused a delay, but not many people cared because flu shots weren't popular.

"It wasn't profitable because people wouldn't take it," he said of the early vaccines.

That clearly wasn't the case at the center, which had only 550 shots available to start. Fifty more were delivered from another clinic later in the afternoon.

The senior center sponsors a flu clinic each year and usually sees 600 to 700 people, but past events haven't had the sense of urgency this year's did.

"I think everyone wanted to make sure they could get one," McClanahan said.

The center had scheduled a clinic in October but no vaccine was available then, so it was canceled. Another clinic was scheduled last week, but the vaccine hadn't arrived yet so it was canceled. When the vaccines arrived late Thursday, a clinic was rescheduled.

The Cape Girardeau Senior Center was originally allotted 550 vaccines from the 1,300 delivered last week to the county public health center. Another 480 shots were administered at the Jackson Senior Center and 187 shots given at the Delta Community Center. When all the shots weren't used in Delta, they were taken to Cape Girardeau.

There has been no rhyme or reason to how or when county health centers get the vaccines, said Jane Wernsman, assistant director of the county health department.

"We don't know until the UPS man gets there," she said.

Because of the delay, vaccinations have been limited to senior adults and people with chronic illnesses, children and adults that have been hospitalized or required regular medical treatment during the past year, anyone who is taking long-term aspirin therapy and pregnant women who will be in their second or third trimesters during the influenza season.

More vaccines are expected in the coming weeks. Typically, flu clinics are held in October.

The shot will help prevent three strains of influenza -- New Caledonia, Panama and Yamanashi -- and takes up to two weeks for full protection from the virus. Some shot recipients could experience redness or soreness, but few side effects are expected, Wernsman said.

Who got shots

About 1,300 flu vaccines were available at three clinics in Cape Girardeau County Monday. A breakdown of the shots given:

Cape Girardeau Senior Center: 600

Jackson Senior Center: 480

Delta Community Center: 187

For information, contact the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Department at 335-7846.