Crowds Pack Bellingham Swine Flu Vaccination Clinic

Crowds of worried people on Wednesday packed a Bellingham clinic that offered hundreds of doses of swine flu vaccine to the public for the first time in our area.

The vaccine for H1N1 swine flu is still in very short supply, but county health authorities are trying to make it available to the most vulnerable people as soon as they can get their hands on it.

Lines stretched out the door of the makeshift swine flu vaccine clinic near Bellingham's Saint Joseph's Hospital.

Whatcom County received about 1,800 doses this week, and officials swiftly organized this clinic, where hundreds of reservations were taken by phone.

Among them was 10-month-old Evening McNamara of Bellingham. Babies, pregnant women and young people are among the high-risk populations, and today's vaccine was restricted to only the most vulnerable.

"I think it's better to be safe than sorry. Any sickness that we can avoid, we'd like to," said Tami McNamera, Evening's mother.

Evening's parents both plan to get a flu shot too, but they aren't in the highest risk groups, so they'll have to wait until more vaccine becomes available.

"It is what it is, I can't change it so I'll just get it when I can," said Brent McNamera.

Whatcom County has received some vaccine in the past, but the amount was so small it was limited to health care workers only.

Whatcom County Health officer Greg Stern said about half of the county's 200,000 residents are in the high priority group for vaccination, so he's eagerly awaiting more vaccine from the federal government in the coming weeks.

"We're going to have more mass vaccine clinics, also we'll have more vaccine to give to doctor's office so that high-risk patients can get vaccinated in the offices," said Dr. Greg Stern of Whatcom County Health.

Whatcom County will hold another vaccine clinic Thursday that's already fully reserved.

On Saturday, Snohomish County will open 10 clinics where the swine flu vaccine will be given for free to people in the highest risk groups. Get more details here