County hosts clinics for those who want H1N1 vaccine

EDINBURG - Gloria Flores can’t afford to get sick.

But she also can’t afford to take preventative steps that keep her from getting ill.

Unsure how to pay for her flu vaccine but certain she doesn’t want to risk the flu, Flores hustled to Edinburg’s Activity Center Monday afternoon when she heard there were free H1N1 vaccines available.

“It’s something that I was wondering: Where we were going to get the shots?” said Flores, a cook at a daycare center who has no health insurance. “The word ‘free’ really helped me.”

Flores and her two children were among 800 people who received their flu vaccines at a clinic sponsored by the City of Edinburg and the Hidalgo County Health Department.

Hidalgo County has helped organize a dozen clinics across the county for residents to get the vaccine.

While private providers can charge a small administrative fee for the vaccine, the clinics offer it to residents for free, said Eddie Olivarez, director of the county’s health department. The department has distributed more than 15,000 doses since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started shipping them two months ago.

Private providers in Hidalgo County have been given more than 130,000 doses, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The vaccine is also available at the health department’s seven clinics.

Olivarez, whose office will continue to organize outside distribution clinics through February, said the department wants to prevent an outbreak of H1N1 in the spring.

“We have an opportunity to contain this now,” Olivarez said. “Why not take advantage of it? Let’s avoid the possibility of a major outbreak by getting the vaccine.”

The Edinburg clinic was one of the first open all day to the general public for H1N1 vaccines, said Ubaldo Perez, deputy chief at the Edinburg Fire Department. Volunteer high school students from a health professional’s club screened attendees with a few basic questions before county and city employees took paperwork and administered the vaccine.

It was a far quicker process than what Bobby Garcia had seen at some jam-packed doctor’s offices.

When he heard about the quick-moving line, he took his wife and children to get the vaccine, which they had within 10 minutes of walking in the door.

Garcia was hit hard last year by the flu, an experience who prefers to avoid again.

“I rarely get sick, but I thought I was going to die,” he said. “I don’t want to go through that again.”

Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4424.