Counties need to be more organized with vaccines

Raise your hand if your kids have received the H1N1 immunization.

Still holding the paper or that mouse?

Yeah, I thought so.

The Kane County Health Department last week administered the first batches of the swine flu vaccine.

The result?

Depending on who you talk to, the distribution was: fine, could be a bit better organized, or was a complete disaster.

And last week will be the only chance for a while, now that the county canceled vaccinations for today and next Monday because they ran out.

Now, I am not a scientist and people that are undoubtedly much smarter than I helped develop this vaccine. And for that they deserve thanks and praise.

But, this is the year 2009.

We are the world's most powerful and affluent nation.

And we have people with little kids waiting in the rain outside of local high schools like St. Charles North or Larkin for hours upon hours for a shot?

How many people got sick just from waiting outside?

And some people think the government needs to take more control of health care.

Please.

I shudder to think how the government would respond to a larger crisis.

Perhaps Lake County County officials got it right when they decided to use a wristband system to distribute their 12,600 vaccines.

It seems more equitable than Kane's plan and access to the vaccine won't depend on your ability to pull your kid out of school early or navigate through a maze of people, SUVs, minivans and traffic cops congregated around a high school.

A question of safety: If red light cameras are for safety instead of cash flow, then the Illinois Department of Transportation apparently missed the memo.

The folks at IDOT recently denied a city of Elgin application to install one of these moneymaking machines, er, um ... cameras at the intersection of Randall Road and Route 72.

The state did install better traffic lights and a dedicated left-turn only arrow at the intersection, which has been the site of several fatal accidents over the last few years.

So, accidents are down nearly 50 percent from Jan. 1 through Oct. 27, 2009 compared to the same time frame two years ago.

This is a good thing.

But wouldn't it make sense to put a camera there anyway?

Why not go all the way for safety?

This is a place where people have died in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

I'm sure the family of Keith P. Forbes II would have wanted a camera there. The Dundee Crowne High School honor student died in October 2007 after the 1993 Honda Civic he was riding in was struck by a Ford E350 van.

Authorities charged a young nun with running the red light, but she was acquitted this past summer.

Seems to me the camera have made the trial a moot point.