DC H1N1 Clinics

[Anonymous]

I know this question calls for pure speculation at this point, but any guesses how long the lines will be this weekend for the DC h1N1 clinics? I'm thinking of going to Wilson HS around 8AM and hoping it wont be hours long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this question calls for pure speculation at this point, but any guesses how long the lines will be this weekend for the DC h1N1 clinics? I'm thinking of going to Wilson HS around 8AM and hoping it wont be hours long.

I am going to guess they will be very long. Perhaps blocks long.

[Anonymous]

Hard to know but I would go in expecting long lines and carrying a book in case. Even though I am anxious about getting sooner than later (pregnant), I think I will hold off from going to the first weekend one.

[Anonymous]

Children under age 9 are supposed to get 2 H1N1 shots, ideally spaced 4 weeks apart. (21 days at minimum.) Even if you got your child to the very first DC clinic and the very last clinic, you wouldn't be spacing the shots by 4 weeks.

Source for the 2-shot info: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/public/vaccination_qa_pub.htm

[Anonymous]

I went to the DC clinic tonight at Cardozo which started at 5pm. Got there at about 5:30 and left at 8:30. People who got there at or before 5 were leaving at about 6:30 so they had a shorter wait time. It was in an auditorium so you could sit -- no standing which was great, no outside time. It was very orderly.

Bring books or if you have a little DVD or paper and crayons and a clipboard for kids to draw. And snacks and drinks for your kids and probably also a meal (or someone lined up to bring you a meal) in case you are there longer than you think. A lot of us mothers tonight were equally unprepared and so our kids entertained each other at least. The littler kids were running up and down the aisles to keep busy. If you had to use bathroom people would save your spot.

One thing to note: while the whole thing was very orderly and well-organized the person who administered my shots was about to give my kids the wrong dosage. I caught it and at first he insisted he was correct, but it turned out I was. I had read an article saying that under 3's get a dosage half as much as over 3's. Fortunately, he was very professional and careful and he read out the dosages he was going to give my kids who are 2 and 4. I asked him why they were getting the same dose and then we had to sort it out. It turned out he was misreading his dosage sheet and thought it was over 6 years that got the double dose, when it actually said over 36 monhths.

[Anonymous]

22.16, can you remember what dosage he gave to your 2 year old? We've just got back from Cardozo and have just noticed that the dosage given to our 15 month old was not written on his shot card. I want to make sure that he was given the correct dosage.

[Anonymous]

I'm 22:16: He gave my 2-year old "0.25" of the "Pasteur" vaccine. 4-year old got "0.5" -- he did not write it on the cards either but we wrote it on there so that when we go for Round 2 we have the info.

Sorry I don't know if it was ml or what the unit of measure was -- but I confirmed from his instruction sheet that these were the correct dosages, and it matched what I had read in the Post earlier in the day that < 3 y.o. got 1/2 dosage of > 3 to 10 y.o.s.

He was not at all defensive about his mistake and then he let me watch him measure out the dose in the syringe and showed me it was at the correct level before doing the injections. (The vials are multi-dosage.)

There were 2 different brands of vaccine -- Pasteur and I forget the other one, but when he and I were trying to figure out if my kids should be getting different or same dosage he showed me his sheet and said we had Pasteur. The dosing numbers for the other brand were different and I don't recall what they were and I don't know if Cardozo had both brands there tonight.

Honestly, I am not sure anyone knows enough about this vaccine to know what difference, if any, it would have made had my 4 y.o. been underdosed, but my take-away was that when operations are being put together this quickly there is certainly potential for error -- i.e., training for these personnel may have been rushed and we were the first clinic in DC. So a little double-check never hurts and I'm glad I said something because I almost decided I must be wrong and clearly this person would know more than I do. But then again, I have also recently started asking the nurse to re-read for me each of the vaccines on the tray at my kids' well-visits before I initial the form. They never mind. Sometimes they even thank me for doing it and that gave me a little confidence to open my mouth tonight.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP. We got 0.25 ml (could remember the 0.25 bit but not the units). Just googled the Sanofi-Pasteur H1N1 vacc and we seem to have been given the correct dosage.

[Anonymous]

Wilson is going to be a madhouse this weekend. I'm thinking about waiting a week or two, but have two concerns. First, I'm worried DC will run out of doses a la Fairfax County. Second, my DS is 9 months old therefore needs two shots -- the longer I wait to get the first one, the longer it is before he gets the second and is fully innoculated. Then again, do I really want to spend hours waiting in line this weekend and potentially exposing him to the germs of all the other kids there? Arrrrgh!!

[Anonymous]

Just as a PSA, we tried to go to the Cardozo clinic last night and unfortunately couldn't get the shot because my daughter is on antibiotics for an ear infection. They said she couldn't get it while she's on antibiotics even though she is fever free. Sadly, we have to wait but this is something for everyone to keep in mind!