Davis ticket holders get flu vaccine

LAYTON — In the flu world, it was the closest thing to an all-access pass granting admittance to an exclusive club.

After all, the H1N1 vaccines are only available to a select part of the population, and with thousands of people lining up at mass clinics for a limited number of vaccines, the Davis County Health Department has piloted a program for distributing vaccine tickets.

Tuesday, health department epidemiologist Brian Hatch pre-screened people waiting in line at the Davis Conference Center in Layton before the county's mass vaccination clinic.

The county had 2,000 vaccines to administer, and Hatch was looking for the first 2,000 people in the targeted population. Armed with 2,000 tickets at 8:30 a.m., Hatch managed to hand them all out by about 10:15 a.m., said health department spokesman Bob Ballew.

When doors opened at 8:45 a.m., the 2,000 ticket holders got their vaccines, and the clinic closed about 11:30 a.m., he said.

The health department deemed the experiment a success, Ballew said, because it didn't leave everyone else in line with false expectations of leftover vaccines.

The ticketing program isn't official policy of the health department yet.

"Right now, it seems like it worked for us," he said.

The test will likely be repeated with next week's mass clinic.

For more information about the availability of flu vaccines in Davis County, see the county's flu Web site: www.daviscountyutah.gov/flu.

e-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com

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