Saturday, October 24, 2009

Oh, the drama

After much debate about the H1N1 vaccine and the possible side effects of the vaccine, Larabee and I decided that we would rather be safe than sorry, especially for the baby's sake. So I called up the local health department on Wednesday to see if they still had the shots and where we could get them. They told me that they were not giving them out for the rest of the week because they had scheduled mass clinics for today, Saturday. I was told they had 7000 shots that would be divided equally among the 4 health department locations in Salt Lake County, so 1750 shots per location. I was also told that they would open at 7 and go until 5, or whenever they ran out.
Loaded with this information Larabee and I decided that we would plan on being down there at 6:30. We figured that there might be a bit of a line, but surly not much of one. Boy were we wrong! We got down there at 6:30 on the dot and there was a line around the building and down the street at that point! There must have been people that were there for hours and hours before we got there. I decided at that point that parking might be an issue so I basically kicked Larabee out of the car and told him to get in line because there were droves of people coming from all directions and I definitely did not want to be behind more people than I had to be behind. I drove around for about 10 minutes before I finally found a parking spot, but found one a couple of blocks away. Kyle and I hiked down to where Larabee was waiting and there were at least 200 people already in line behind him. Good thing I kicked him out!
At 7, when they started letting people in to receive the shots, we figured out how slowly things were going to move. Silly Mama that I am, I figured it would not be a big deal and we would get through quickly, so I failed to grab the stroller out of the car. Kyle was a cuddle bug today, and was being incredibly good, but he only wanted me. Not Daddy. Me. After about 45 minutes my back simply could not take it and I hiked back to the car for the stroller and necessary keep-the-boy-occupied supplies. When I got back to Larabee and Kyle they had not moved an inch, and I was gone for over 20 minutes. So we waited. Kyle watched what was going on around him. And we waited.
At about 8 I decided I was hungry and hiked the 4 blocks to 7-11 and got some grub for us and some coffee (decaf because we are both being good). When I got back the line had move but not a ton. So we waited. And waited. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we got to the door. They tried to tell us that Larabee could not get vaccinated because he was not caring for a child under the age of 6 months NOW. So I sorta kinda fibbed and said I was due any day. He got the shot after I said that! At 10:30 we walked out of the building. So, it took us 4 hours to get these stupid little shots that may or may not have been necessary. I guess it is done now, but boy my feet hurt and I am exhausted!

1 comment:

  1. I want to get it for our family too. but...try to find it! My OB office doesn't have it, the peds office does not have it. but the health deparmtents do!!?? Oh...and I work in health care, direct care, can't get it there either. I am totally confused with how they are distributing this vaccine when supposedly high risk groups are supposed to get it first....

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