Thousands Get Swine Flu Vaccines

Miami-Dade holds two special clinics on Veterans Day

By DIANA GONZALEZ

Updated 6:30 AM EST, Thu, Nov 12, 2009

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There was a long line stretching outside the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo Center at 9:30 yesterday as inside, nurses and doctors were preparing to give out free H1N1 vaccines.

Elisa Quintana lined up with her three children, eager to receive the vaccine.

“They haven’t received it yet and so I found out they were handing them out this morning and I decided to come over and bring them kids,” Quintana said.

Little Selena Swindoll, just 9, was also willing to wait for the vaccine. She is taking the threat of swine flu very seriously, as she put it “because we might get sick then we might die.”

Nasal and injectable doses were administered during this special H1N1 Flu Vaccination Day. Florida’s Surgeon General came down from Tallahassee

“I actually met some of the staff here volunteering that are veterans today,” said Scott Siegel, an ER nurse who served in the Airforce. “When I was in the military I was giving back to the community and now I’m giving back again.”

The Qunitana family was able to get their vaccines in less than 90 minutes. “Very organized and not that long to wait at all” said Quintana.

But the Health Department did not expect this many people.

“No, absolutely not . I expected lower turnout out. I really did” admits Miami-Dade County Health Department Director Lillian Rivera.

Originally this clinic was scheduled to stay open until 6p.m., but they had to stop giving out numbers at 1:20 p.m.

Exactly 2500 doses were administered at the center, and a second site at the Health Department’s Downtown Clinic at 1350 NW 14 Street did remain open until 6 p.m.