Swine Flu Clinics Coming To Charlotte

Mecklenburg County's fight against swine flu got a $1.8 million shot in the arm on Wednesday.

With the county health director on hand, county commissioners received a federal grant to help fight the virus.

"It allows us to add manpower to the process," said Dr. Wynn Mabry, Mecklenburg County health director.

Mabry couldn't give an exact number, but said the county will use the federal dollars to hire contract medical workers to help deliver the vaccine, as well as help set up new sites for residents to get the shots.

Mabry said the money will be most significant in helping get the vaccine to students.

He estimates more than 60,000 students will get the vaccine through the school system and that takes time.

The more health workers on hand, the faster it gets to the children.

"We're optimistic with additional federal funding that we're going to be more flexible and adaptable than ever before," he said.

The Mecklenburg County Health Department will start daily clinics offering the H1N1 vaccine to at-risk groups on Thursday.

The department received a shipment of 1,400 doses of the vaccine this week, and officials said it's enough for them to start holding clinics. It already had about 1,000 doses.

Only at-risk patients will be allowed to schedule an appointment at this time. Pregnant women, people who live with or take care of children younger than 6 months old, children 6 months to 4 years old and all children who are 5 to 18 years old with chronic medical conditions are eligible.

The health department will only give out 500 doses a day.

With their current supply, the health department can run the daily clinic until next week, but by then Health Director Dr. Wynn Mabry expects to have more vaccines in hand.

"We're starting to see larger weekly supplies coming in. So we're making progress. We're optimistic," Mabry said.

Getting the vaccines to schools might take several more weeks.

Superintendent Peter Gorman said the vaccines couldn't come soon enough, because recently more and more students have been calling out sick.

"It was an upward spike last week. We don't just look at overall. We look at individual schools to see if there are any hot spots," Gorman said.

Permission slips for the vaccines will go home with students on Friday, and school leaders want all parents to have them returned within a week.

CMS hopes to start running the clinics at individual schools by the end of November.

Health officials told Eyewitness News they will likely start at elementary schools and host six to 10 clinics each day.

They'll have a clinic at one school in every learning community every day so that the vaccines are distributed evenly across the county.

A lot hinges on the shipments, and while Mabry said the shipments have been getting bigger each week, they're banking that everything stays on pace.

"It's a challenge. We're trying to do this protective measure in the middle of a pandemic, where people are getting sick every day," he said.

If you want to sign up for a vaccine and you fit one of the four categories for at-risk people, you can call the H1N1 hotline at 704-432-5100.

However, health officials are urging people to check with their medical providers first to see if they have the vaccine. Pharmacies are also expected to receive some doses for public distribution.

VIDEO: Mecklenburg County To Begin Vaccinating The Public For H1N1