Posted on 11/04/2009 4:47:31 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Long lines at public flu clinics -- initially intended to primarily serve the uninsured -- are now commonplace nationwide as doses of the vaccine remain scarce. Many clinics report seeing large numbers of people who have insurance but have been unable to get H1N1 vaccines from private doctors, who say they have either already run out or have yet to get any.
The line at the Glendale clinic, the first to be held in that city since Los Angeles County received doses late last month, was the longest yet, county Department of Public Health officials said. And the stakes were high, with just 2,400 doses on site when the doors opened.
About 20 nurses walked the line to screen out the ineligible. The county, after facing criticism in the first days of the free clinics for lax guidelines, has focused the limited supply on pregnant women, caregivers of babies younger than 6 months, those ages 6 months to 24 years, healthcare workers and those ages 25 to 64 with health conditions that put them at higher risk of developing complications from the flu.
As they waited, strangers shared food, chairs, umbrellas and portable DVD players. Children played with coloring books and tossed a football on the grass as a dozen police and firefighters looked on.
"I never expected this," said Anne Benavides, 63, of La Crescenta, who has asthma and came to get the vaccine for herself and her 4-year-old twin granddaughters. "People are scared -- just look."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Lined up all neat like cattle.
BTW, who's supposed to sit in that little yellow seat on the right?
Can you spell third world banana republic?
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