Alina Popov / Roundup
Supplies for the H1N1 vaccines at the new Student Services Building depleted at 10 a.m. yesterday.
The Vaccine Clinic opened at 9 a.m. Monday morning in the International Students conference Room.
Originally the clinic was scheduled to stay open until 6 p.m. yesterday or until the vaccine supply lasted.
The Student Health Center has re-opened.
“About 20 people lined up in the morning,” said Beth Benne on Monday, R.N., director of the Student Health Center. According to her, 66 people were vaccinated in the first hour on Monday.
The vaccine was provided free of charge “on a first come, first serve basis”
to anyone who came to the clinic. The college didn’t require the clinic to screen for any student ID, according to Benne.
Vaccine recipients were required to fill out a Contraindication and Precaution
Vaccination Screening Form before they receive the shot.
The SHC used all 400 doses received two weeks ago and Benne anticipates 1,600-dose shipment will arrive soon.
All of the H1N1 vaccines received by Pierce College were inactivated (vaccines that have killed viruses in them) and are injected into the muscle, similar to a seasonal flushot. They do not require the second injection.
Benne says the shots contain a preservative called thimerosal to keep them free from germs. This vaccine is not suitable for pregnant women, even though that group fits into the high-risk category according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Also, these vaccines will not prevent from seasonal flu and Benne recommends having seasonal influenza vaccine separately.
Benne, nurse practitioner Debbie Sargent and Leslie Webb, a third-semester nursing student.
Benne believes around 80 percent of Monday’s vaccination recipients were students, the rest being faculty and staff.
“I knew they would give shots here and just saw a clinic and had to stop by,” said Suphangwan Benjard, 30, an international student from Thailand. “I knew I would get (the vaccine) but didn’t expect to get it today.”
Benjard chose to receive the vaccine to prevent the risk of spreading the flu to her friends or their children.
Benne said allergic reactions to the vaccine are very rare but normally show immediately.
“We keep people for 15 minutes to see,” she said.
Jasenka Fearn, a nursing major and a SHC student worker, decided not to get a vaccine.
“I saw a news excerpt on Fox that showed a woman after she had the H1N1 vaccine,” said Fearn, 32. “She had an adverse reaction from the H1N1 vaccine and contracted the Guillain Barre Syndrome (a severe paralytic illness). I know it’s a very slim chance of contracting this, but even though, I still decided to opt out of taking the vaccine.”
“Most people are scared because of the needle,” said Loralyn Frederick, a SHC medical assistant who was in charge of health screening for the clinic Monday. “And, of course, the vaccine is new.”
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Paul Stamp, a Pierce student, receives his H1N1 shot from Leslie Webb, a third semester nursing student. Stamp said he was getting the shot because he will be returning home to Thailand for Christmas and was worried about being in close courters on an airplane. The clinic saw 66 people in their first hour. (Anibal Ortiz / Roundup)
People fill out forms as they wait to get H1N1 immunization at Pierce College?s H1N1 Vaccine Clinic on Monday, Nov.16, 2009. Photo by Alina Popov (alina Popov)
