Five hundred more flu shots were administered to Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students Wednesday. This was SU Health Services’ third flu shot clinic held in Flanagan Gymnasium in four weeks.

The clinic, which began at noon Wednesday, ran out of shots at approximately 1:30 p.m. It was scheduled to last until 4 p.m. Another clinic will be held Friday from noon to 2 p.m. in Flanagan.

‘Our interest in the flu vaccine has been overwhelming. We have not seen this level of student interest ever,’ said Kathy VanVechten, associate director of Health Services. ‘With our initial preorder, we ordered 4,000 doses, which we thought would be far more than we needed.’

Health Services decided on 500 doses for Wednesday’s clinic because it was what nurses could manage, prepare and administer, said Carol Masiclat, a Health Services spokeswoman. Because of the high turnout at the previous two clinics, tickets were handed out to the first 500 students who arrived, guaranteeing them the shot Wednesday. Health Services also plans to limit the shots to 500 for each future clinic.

SU’s supply was ordered in March, VanVechten said. Last year the university ordered 3,200 – more than it had ever ordered. The supply lasted until April, she said. The extra 800 shots were ordered this year because Health Services expected greater student interest.

Health Services estimates it will hold weekly flu clinics until SU’s supply of 4,000 shots is gone, Masiclat said. After Wednesday, 1,540 shots were left. Should demand continue after the 4,000 are gone, SU will try to order more, Masiclat said.

‘We want to make sure that we have a number of doses that matches the number of students here without having to make them wait unnecessarily,’ Masiclat said.

Health Services started the ticketed approach to make the process more convenient for students,

Masiclat said.

‘There are students that come here as early as they can, and they wait and wait and wait, and we don’t want you to be late for class or miss any appointments or anything,’ Masiclat said.

Flu shot clinics also started earlier in the year than they usually do, VanVechten said. Clinics usually begin in mid-October, but the university wanted to make sure that students were vaccinated early in the season, she said.

‘We will continue to order as many times as the supply allows,’ Masiclat said. ‘This flu season the people seem especially interested in getting vaccinated for seasonal flu, so that puts a little bit of a strain on the whole supply. We’re trying to keep up with the demand as well as we can and ordering it, and we’ll have events like this as many times as we can.’

Students who received the shot in previous years said they were surprised at the large turnout this year.

‘I usually get the flu shot. I’ve never had to wait in a line like this, though,’ said Evan Ganz, a junior finance and accounting major. ‘I got it here last year, and I remember getting it in Goldstein (Student Center), and I didn’t have to wait in line.’

The rest of the students were told to come back Friday. The first clinic of the year, held Sept. 11, administered 1,560 shots. Because of the high number of shots given that day, the second clinic, held Sept. 16, only gave out 400.

Despite the ticketing system’s intention to lower the wait time for students and streamline the seasonal flu vaccine clinic, the line still snaked around the gymnasium and backed up to the entrance of Archbold Gymnasium. Some students said they doubted ticketing made fewer people come.

‘It doesn’t really matter because of the fact that you don’t really know how many people have been before you,’ said Jessica Fontaine, an undeclared freshman. ‘Either way, you’re going to try and see if you can get in or not.’

The swine flu vaccine will be available in Onondaga County next week but SU still does not know when the university will receive it.

‘The supply that SU gets will be determined by the county, and the guidelines for which those are administered are also determined by the county,’ Masiclat said.

rhkheel@syr.edu

Published on September 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm