Lyn Jerde/Daily Register
His mom, Jennifer Keppert of Portage, knows it hurts, but an H1N1 shot for 2-year-old Carsten Keppert should make it less likely he will get the influenza strain that has reached pandemic proportions in the United States.

Madelyne Keppert was adamant and near tears.

"Mama, I don't want an owie," the 3-year-old said, as her H1N1 injection syringe was prepared.

Not even the promise of ice cream (in her favorite flavor, vanilla) or a multi-colored adhesive bandage distracted Madelyne from what was to come.

"I don't want an owie," she said again.

"I know you don't," replied her mother, Jennifer Keppert of Portage, "but if you don't get one, you might get sick."

For Madelyne and her 2-year-old brother Carsten, a vaccination against the H1N1 virus was a necessity, Jennifer said.

She's heard stories, she said, about small children dying of H1N1, although that has not happened in Columbia County.

Preventing deaths and serious illnesses from H1N1 was the goal of the mass vaccination clinic Friday afternoon at Portage High School.

Columbia County Public Health Officer Susan Lorenz said 2,200 doses of the H1N1 vaccine - about 850 of them nasal spray, the rest injections - were available free of charge Friday for people at greatest risk for adverse effects of H1N1, also known as swine flu. Those included, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, were children from 6 months to 4 years old, older children with underlying health conditions, health-care workers, pregnant women and people who live with or care for an infant.

That would explain the large numbers of strollers in the line that extended for several hundred yards along the sidewalks leading to the high school's front door, shortly before the clinic's 2 p.m. start.

At the front of the line was Jessica Skupniewitz of Rio, who'd brought for vaccinations her 22-month-old daughter, Kaden Branton, and 11-year-old son, Tristan Skupniewitz (who she said has a history of adverse effects from seasonal flu).

The family left their Rio home as soon as Tristan got out of middle school for the day and didn't even stop for lunch before heading for the clinic.

Looking back at the hundreds of people in line behind her, Jessica observed, "When I see all these kids running around ..."

Tristan finished the sentence for her: "You see how H1N1 spreads so fast."

The long lines had diminished within an hour of the clinic's start, and at 5 p.m. - one hour before the scheduled closing - people trickled in a few at a time.

Erik Pritzl, director of the county's Department of Health and Human Services, said officials won't know how many vaccines were administered until early next week, when an inventory is conducted of the remaining supply.

This much he did know: For latecomers to the clinic, there was vaccine available.

Standing outside to assist people entering and leaving the clinic were Portage police officers and volunteers from Amateur Radio Emergency Services/Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (ARES/RACES) of Columbia County.

Once the doors to the high school were opened, the line moved quickly inside to registration tables staffed by volunteers, most of whom work for the Columbia County Department of Health and Human Services.

Inside, Emergency Management Director Pat Beghin and Columbia County Board Vice Chairman Robert Westby were among the volunteers helping guide families to the booths set up in the gymnasium.

Lorenz said Portage High School faculty and staff set up a "Disney-like line" - a serpentine line that snaked around the cafeteria hallway leading toward the gym.

At the front of the line, there was a video running - one that Beghin had brought, featuring Grover and his Muppet friends from "Sesame Street" talking about emergency preparedness.

Many youngsters passed part of their waiting time watching the video.

"It helps relax the kids," Lorenz said. "They're used to those characters on TV, so it's a familiar sight."

In the clinic, workers from Home Health United administered the vaccines.

For very small children such as Madelyne and Carsten Keppert, the shots went into a thigh muscle, because arm muscles sometimes aren't large enough.

And yes, for some of the children, the shot hurt. A succession of wails echoed from the cubicles.

But tears were almost always dried by the time the youngsters and their parents left the clinic - with more than one parent promising, "It's all over. Now we can go get ice cream."

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