Looking at those long queues of thousands of Lake County residents waiting for H1N1 vaccinations, The Hound wondered: Is it time to panic?
The county expects to run out of the vaccine shortly after getting about 10,000 doses. This is the clout Lake County has: Health officials ask for 100,000 doses, we get 10,000.
But what the county did get was dispensed at five different flu shot locations --- Mundelein, Gurnee, Round Lake Beach, Waukegan and North Chicago --- as mothers dragged their kids from school to get the shots. Already, two people have died in the county from H1N1 and they weren't kids.
One was a 72-year-old man, the other a 41-year-old woman. Both were from Gurnee, which apparently is ground zero in the Year of H1N1. Perhaps its swine flu revenge for Gurnee stealing Waukegan's car dealers, eh?
Of course, in following Centers for Disease Control guidelines, these initial flu clinics were only for people in high-risk groups, including pregnant women; those 6 months to 24 years of age; health care and emergency medical services employees; and people 25 to 64 years of age with underlying medical conditions, such as asthma or diabetes.
And, The Hound wants to know, which lobbyists from the pork producing states changed the name from swine flu to H1N1. Swine flu sounded more benign. H1N1 sounds like it should be a monicker for an android in a program on the Sci-Fi Channel.
As for panic time. It's only the first quarter, folks. Lots of time left for a hail Mary or two. Or maybe those promised 100,000 vaccine doses.
