Vaccine Demand vs. Vaccine Supply

The road to public health is a bumpy one. Right after their school was over today, Lilly and Ann and I went to the Hoffman Estates municipal building for seasonal flu shots. Theirs, since I've had mine. We noticed right away that things were different this year because a line snaked out the door. Last year, there was a short line for the shots but a longer one to vote absentee in the presidential election. I guess it depends what's on the top of the public mind.

I need to stress that the clinic was offering seasonal flu vaccinations, as it does every year. A number of signs taped to the doors, and the walls along the way, said as much as well: WE DO NOT HAVE H1N1 VACCINATIONS. Sign of the times.

We waited a while, not an intolerably long while, but just before we'd made our way to the table at which you file out your forms, a woman with the clinic told us that the stock of vaccine had been clean run through. Plumb used up. Gone like a sailor's pay on Sunday morning. None of those were her exact words, but she did say that they weren't expecting such a crush of people.

So we left with some dispatch. I wanted to get out of the parking lot before word got through to the people in line behind us, who would then all want to leave at about the same time, like at the end of a concert. Before we left, we did hear from the kindly clinic lady that there will be another clinic, but she didn't know when. Maybe when Togo and Balto manage to bring more vaccine to Hoffman Estates.