Weekend clinics canceled after more hourslong waits Friday in Lake Co.

Early and strong demand for the H1N1 flu vaccine has prompted Lake County Health Department officials to cancel additional clinics scheduled for today and Sunday.

All of the roughly 10,572 doses health officials had to give out over a four-day period starting Thursday were allocated by late Friday morning at clinics in Mundelein, Gurnee, Round Lake Beach, Waukegan and North Chicago.

Nearly 2,100 additional doses the county received and reserved for health-department patients, first responders and other people also were gone.

With no more vaccine to distribute, officials on Friday canceled the remaining sessions set for this weekend.

"Our supply could not meet the demand," health department spokeswoman Leslie Piotrowski said.

That's partially because the state sent far fewer doses than county officials expected to receive for the clinics. Although they have ordered 100,000 doses, they anticipated having 50,000 for the weekend sessions and planned accordingly, Piotrowski said.

The health department also expected private physicians, pharmacists and other medical providers would have had the vaccine by now, she said. Instead, the health department was the only game in town.

"We did not expect that at all," Piotrowski said.

Looking back, health department Executive Director Irene Pierce said relying on the state's assurances the county would have enough doses was a mistake. If she had it to do over, Pierce said, she'd schedule the clinics only when the vaccines were safe in the health department's refrigerators.

The department will look for other ways to improve performance at future clinics, Pierce said.

Like Thursday, lines at the clinics were long Friday morning. Four-hour waits for treatment were reported, which, when combined with the intermittent rain, made some people cranky.

"You'd think there would be a better way than standing out in the rain," said Libertyville resident Bill Leonard, who waited at Mundelein's Sandburg Middle School for the vaccine with his 3-year-old daughter, Veronica. "The Lake County Health Department should be ashamed of themselves."

Not everyone was so negative.

"I actually struck up conversations with people," said Mundelein resident Ilene Gooden, who waited in line about four hours to be vaccinated at Sandburg Middle School. "Everyone was really considerate of everyone else."

At the Mundelein clinic, the line stretched from the treatment center in the gymnasium to California Avenue and down Division Street.

It was just about as long on Thursday, the clinic's first day, police said.

On both days, people were given green wristbands at the clinics to guarantee they received the vaccine. Because of the rain, workers on Friday told people with the bands they could leave the line - as long as they return by 5 p.m.

"We didn't want long lines in the rain," Piotrowski said.

The strategy paid off in the early afternoon when heavy downpours drenched the area. The Mundelein site was virtually abandoned, occupied only by staffers, a pair of police officers and a few members of the public.

Hawthorn Woods resident Bill Stark and his daughters Lauren, 16, and Amy, 13, were turned away from the Mundelein clinic after showing up about 1:20 p.m., long after all the bracelets were gone.

"I kind of expected it," Stark said. "I just thought we'd try our luck."

Piotrowski was surprised by how many parents she saw with school-age children in the morning lines.

"I think it shows people are genuinely concerned," she said.

Health officials repeated their defense of the walk-in clinics, saying local residents wanted the vaccine as quickly as possible. A reservation system similar to those used in other counties would have delayed delivery, they said.

However, some future H1N1 flu clinics will use a reservation system. Others still will be walk-in clinics, Pierce said.

Health department officials will examine their operations in recent days and look for ways to improve future clinics, she said.

For example, they will try to improve the wristband system, perhaps by using multiple colors to differentiate times of the day, Pierce said. Shelters for inclement weather could be useful, too, she said.

No future clinics have been scheduled yet, but they are planned.