By Susan DeFord
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 1, 2007

This year's Howard County drive-through flu clinic is not only free, but it aims to be bigger and faster than last year's operation as county officials refine emergency preparedness strategies.

Health officials say the clinic planned for Sunday is designed to administer 4,000 flu shots in four hours and is the largest of its kind in the country. Officials decided to nearly double the size of last year's clinic, which also tested how well the government could devise logistics for use during emergencies. Nurses will administer shots, police will direct traffic and firefighters will coordinate communications and on-site management of 230 county employees and volunteers.

"We want to build capacity to ramp up in times of disaster," said Joseph Herr, chief of the Department of Fire and Rescue Services. "This gives us an excellent opportunity."

The free clinic, which will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Columbia Gateway Business Park, is open to non-county residents. The Health Department is paying $40,000 for the immunizations from its budget, and with several thousand dollars in state funds.

County Health Officer Peter Beilenson noted that flu kills 36,000 people each year in the United States, accounting for twice as many deaths as those attributed to MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

"It's among the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.," he said. "We really want people to get vaccinated."

The Health Department, Beilenson said, wanted to test its capacity for mass inoculations in the event of a pandemic or terrorist incident.

"What we learn from this will be crucial," he said.

The department will offer additional flu clinics around Howard through Dec. 15, but there will be fees of $25 for the flu shot and $30 for a pneumococcal vaccine. FluMist, the intranasal vaccine, will be available.

Sunday's drive-through clinic will offer only an injectable vaccine, which can be given to adults and children 6 months and older.

Last year, the wait was nearly two hours, said Lisa M. de Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Health Department. Officials want to cut that to one hour. They hope to do that by eliminating the $20 fee, reducing the amount of paperwork for shot recipients and expanding the areas for shots at two large parking lots near county Health Department offices off Columbia Gateway Drive. Officials also plan to use highway sign boards to update motorists on wait times, and they'll broadcast messages on county radio station 1700 AM.

People who arrive a few minutes before the clinic is scheduled to close will get a shot if vaccine doses are available, de Hernandez said.

But early arrivals shouldn't try to be at the front of the line. That's reserved for County Executive Ken Ulman (D).

"He gets the first shot," de Hernandez said.