Kenosha County’s third swine flu vaccination clinic on Saturday started earlier than expected and saw more than 1,200 people receive the vaccine.

It was the first clinic since Oct. 27, a gap caused by a shortage of vaccine available to the county’s Division of Health.

While the first two clinics saw long lines and long waits, Saturday’s clinic at the Job Center, 8600 Sheridan Road, was much different.

Cynthia Johnson, nursing director for Kenosha County, said the doors were opened at 5 a.m. in preparation for the 8:30 a.m. clinic. While a few hundred people were gathered before the start time, the entire line was able to stay inside the building once the doors opened.

The county started administering shots around 7:30 a.m., an hour earlier than the scheduled start time, and about 250 people were vaccinated within the first hour.

“We had our own personal blue light special,” Johnson said.

The early start was based on the previous clinics’ long lines. “We had people here early to accommodate that crowd,” she said.

In addition, a group of 10 screeners and 14 people administering shots helped the lines move quickly.

In and out

By 9 a.m., people were getting vaccinated within 15 minutes of entering the building.

Rita Allen of Kenosha skipped the Oct. 27 clinic because of long lines, but was happy to find a short wait on Saturday.

“It went so much faster than I thought it would,” Allen said.

Jan Slivon of Kenosha said she was in and out of the clinic in about 15 minutes.

“It was wonderful. There was no pain,” Slivon said.

Children under 10 years old are recommended to get two doses of the swine flu vaccination, which have to be administered four weeks apart.

Joe and Christine Hanusek of Paddock Lake brought their son, 10-month-old Zach, to receive his second dose on Saturday. Christine said Saturday was a much different experience than the Oct. 24 clinic at the Kenosha County Center.

“We were waiting out to Highway 50, and we were there for 3½ hours. It was not a fun day,” Christine Hanusek said. “Today there was no line, and it was very nice.

Dan and Karen Davis of Pleasant Prairie had a similar experience at the Oct. 27 clinic, which was at Tremper High School.

“It took us about two hours at Tremper and 20 minutes today,” Karen Davis said.

1,200 vaccinated

About 1,230 people had been vaccinated by 11:30 a.m. The clinic was scheduled to close at 1:30 p.m.

Saturday’s clinic was targeted at pregnant women, those who provide care for infants less than 6 months of age, health care and emergency services workers, children 6 months to 4 years old and people age 5 to 64 with medical conditions that put them at high risk for flu-related complications.

Both the flu mist and shot were available on Saturday.

Johnson said the county had been doing some vaccinations for specific groups — pregnant women, physicians and dentists and special needs children — but the county wanted to wait until there was a sufficient amount of vaccine for a wider targeted group.

Next clinic?

Johnson said she hoped to have more clinics in December, which she believed might be open to all Kenosha County residents.

“We’re hoping this is the last clinic just for our target groups,” Johnson said.

The second death related to the swine flu virus was reported in Kenosha County last week.