Big crowds turn out for Wisconsin’s first swine flu clinics

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There’s a huge demand for the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, despite the public’s concerns about its safety.

In Cedarburg, about 1,700 people were vaccinated last night at a clinic that ran an hour later than scheduled and some were still turned away.

Milwaukee holds its first public clinic today and tomorrow – but 7,000 available doses are expected to be snapped up in just hours.

Manufacturers had early production problems, and the government decided to distribute what it gets instead of waiting for its entire order.

A recent poll found that just 49 percent of Americans thought the vaccine was safe. But Geoffrey Swain of the Milwaukee Health Department says it matches the flu strain very well, and the type of mercury it contains normally leaves the body very rapidly.

Waukesha County plans to have clinics next week, and they hope to limit it to the main targeted group – healthy, non-pregnant people ages 2-49.

The clinics

are generally for those without full health insurance.

Others are being told to get the vaccine from their providers, and they’re not expected to get their supplies until November. In the meantime, state officials say the H1N1 virus is not more prevalent now than it was in the spring.

More than 50 Wisconsinites have been hospitalized this fall, and two have died from it.

Tags: h1n1 vaccine, wisconsin, clinic