About 2,000 H1N1 vaccinations were administered Tuesday as Northwestern held its first day of providing free swine flu vaccinations to members of the University community, officials said.
The vaccinations were given at Patten Gymnasium and Norris University Center from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to faculty and students, and will be available until Thursday, Nov. 19.
About 40 health specialists from the Evanston Department of Health and Human Services came to NU to administer the vaccinations, University Spokesman Al Cubbage said. The line at Patten was significantly shorter than the one at Norris, where the longest wait was about an hour and 15 minutes, Cubbage added.
“On the whole it went very well,” he said. “We had some significant lines at Norris, but everything was very orderly…they were moving people through as quickly as they could.”Communication senior Brittany Bookbinder said she arrived at Norris at 9 a.m. and did not receive her vaccination until 10:15 a.m.
“I guess to a certain extent it was predictable that there were going to be a lot of people,” she said. “But it was sort of disorganized when I got there, and they put up all these barriers.”
Students and faculty members received either a shot or nasal spray as long as they had a WildCARD or proof of age, and met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NU’s requirements. People who were given priority included those younger than 25 or those who had medical conditions that made them more susceptible to influenza.
“It’s important that our students are indeed getting vaccinated because what we’re avoiding is a major outbreak at Northwestern,” Cubbage said. “So we hope that more will do so.”Donald Misch, executive director for Health Services at NU, said no one within the guidelines was turned away.
“People were frustrated because we had to closely follow the CDC guidelines,” he said. “Most of them understood the reasons for that, given there’s a shortage of vaccines overall…and felt this is a special event. I thought it was a great partnership with the city.”
Misch said he thinks Health and Human Services should have enough vaccinations to continue delivering them Wednesday and Thursday.
“We think we have enough to proceed tomorrow,” he said. “We don’t have reason to think we won’t have enough Thursday, but it will depend on how many people come.” [email protected]
