10,000 try state flu-shot drill

Denver Post
Posted: 2007-11-19 20:26:11

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Forty-five minutes after the first needle was plunged into a Coloradan's arm Saturday, more than 6,000 people statewide had received flu shots in a drill to prepare for a large- scale flu outbreak.

The exercise by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment targeted 26,000 people throughout the state at 28 sites. Turnout was lower than expected and only about 10,000 people received the shots in the scheduled two hours-plus, said Katherine Davis, spokeswoman for the health department.

"We're not sure why ... probably because it was a little later in the flu season, maybe some people had already gotten their shots," said Dana Erpelding, the health department's training manager.

Over the next month, Erpelding said, the department will look at data collected during the exercise to see how it can be more effective in the future.

The event was a test of the state's ability to respond to a massive flu outbreak such as the 1918 pandemic that killed as many as 40 million people worldwide.

In such a case, a vaccine would have to be developed and quickly distributed, Davis said.

The exercise was planned for three years and even with the low turnout is the largest so far conducted in the country, said Ned Calonge, the health department's chief medical officer.

"Not only does this give us the opportunity to do the largest statewide vaccination ever, but at the other end we are providing a useful health service to people who show up for the vaccine," Calonge said.