 "Photo: TJ Jerke, The Volante, 2009")
 "Photo: TJ Jerke, The Volante, 2009")
Starting almost an hour before the clinic opened, students began lining up outside the free H1N1 clinic at the Muenster University Center ballroom.
Senior Jami Buttke was one of the students who stood outside the clinic
45 minutes before it opened at 3 p.m.
When she left the clinic with her vaccination 10 minutes after the doors opened, the line was trailing down the staircase, she said.
Buttke said she hung around the clinic out of curiosity to see how many students would show up, and wasn’t sure there would be enough vaccinations for everyone.
The clinic was open from 3-9 p.m. and gave 1,200 H1N1 vaccines. There will be 500 vaccinations available at Student Health for students or community members who couldn’t make it to the clinic, Associate Dean of Students Kirsten Compary said.
The state secured 2,000 H1N1 vaccines at the clinic with the goal of immunizing as many students as possible before they left for Thanksgiving break, Compary said.
Compary said she hopes the clinic will help students avoid getting sick during Finals Week or winter break.
Within the first hour, more than 400 vaccines were administered by nursing students, said Greg Santa Maria, emergency preparedness manager for USD with Sanford Health Systems.
Buttke said the H1N1 vaccintion was her very first flu shot, and that she was encouraged by her mother and boyfriend, a medical student, to get vaccinated.
She was relieved to get it over with, especially since there is a limited supply of H1N1 vaccines, she said.
Those eligible for the H1N1 vaccine included pregnant women, caretakers of children younger than six months, children six months old to 18 years old, adults ages 18 to 24 and adults older than 24 with certain preexisting medical conditions, but Compary said they weren’t turning anyone away.
Santa Maria said students 19-24 are at high risk because their healthy immune systems haven’t been exposed to the virus.
“It tends to attack the healthy immune systems that haven’t seen it,” Santa Maria said.
It takes about two weeks for immunity to set in, Santa Maria said.
But vaccinated students can still spread the virus and need to continue using hand sanitizer and following health practices suggested by the Centers for Disease Control, Santa Maria said.
Freshmen Mariah McCleery and Bethany Kallhoff live in the dorms, and were at the clinic Monday afternoon for the H1N1 vaccination.
Showing up after the opening rush at the clinic, they were surprised to get the vaccine so quickly. McCleery said she had heard about people being turned away from earlier H1N1 clinics in Sioux Falls.
Kallhoff said she appreciated that the vaccination was free, and as a resident of the dorms, was glad she was able to get the vaccine on campus.
“I wish I would have been able to get it sooner because we could have already been sick,” McCleery said. “A lot of people have already been sick.”
Compary said Community Advisors were knocking on doors Monday afternoon to get as many students to the clinic as possible, and the university made calls to the Greek houses.
Santa Maria said they worked with the state to have the college vaccination week in place before the expected third wave of the virus in mid-January.
South Dakota State University’s clinic occurred at the same time as USD’s, he said.
The number of vaccinations administered within the first hour of the clinic’s opening have been one of the largest operations he has coordinated, Santa Maria said.
About 50 nonclinical volunteers and about 35 nursing students joined 10 Sioux Falls Sanford screeners to run the clinic, Santa Maria said.
While many students came to the clinic, it was also a chance for children who were vaccinated in Vermillion to receive their second dose. Children under four are advised to receive a second dose for immunity, Santa Maria said.
Students can watch the Student Health Web page for updates on new area clinics, Compary said.
Reach reporter Josie Kerk at Josephine.Kerk@usd.edu.
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