Learn from experience in H1N1 battle

In Lake County, lines stretched for blocks, people stood in the rain for four hours and many seeking the H1N1 vaccine ultimately were turned away.

To the south, in DuPage County, a manageable trickle of parents and children showed up for appointments, received the vaccine and were back in their cars in less than 10 minutes.

How is it possible for such different experiences to emerge in the suburbs? After all, public health officials are dealing with the same information. They don't know when the vaccine will arrive. They can't predict which version.

We believe it's the result of poor planning or outright incompetence.

Health officials should learn from experience, modifying their approach as they go. This is what we're seeing in Cook County, which focused delivery through the school systems in an effort to get the vaccine to children, the highest risk group first. Cook County now are offering appointments. In Kane County, the department has been criticized for inoculating non-priority groups and responded by setting up appointments for high-risk individuals to receive remaining doses. McHenry County has successfully used an appointment-based system.

In Lake County, however, health department Director Irene Pierce's defense of a failing system is stunning. The health department set up walk-in clinics at times when children should be in school. Lake County ran out of vaccine before its first clinic scheduled outside school hours. This clearly is not the best way to inoculate children.

In retrospect, Pierce says the only thing she would have done differently is wait until more doses were in hand before scheduling clinics. The department will begin to schedule some appointments and more walk-in clinics. She insists the Thursday and Friday events achieved her goal of delivering the vaccine quickly and making sure people were comfortable.

We saw what happened. No one looked comfortable. Long lines can create hysteria or discourage people from trying to get the vaccine at all. There are many things that should have been done differently. We're disappointed in Pierce for not acknowledging that.

DuPage Heath Department Director Maureen McHugh views the process as "a marathon, not a race." Her department's planning began in the spring and evolves daily. Sometime in late September, DuPage contracted with a 24-hour call center that would take appointments. Clinics are set up for after school and weekends.

Phone lines were jammed the first two days. Once the clinics opened, though, it has been smooth-sailing.

"This way, you wait at your convenience on the phone. Once you hit our doors, the goal is in and out in 10 minutes or less," McHugh said.

We applaud the approach and urge other departments to use federal Public Health Emergency Response dollars to set up more manageable clinics. McHugh said the call center uses $6,000 per day of that federal money earmarked for delivering the vaccine. It's money well spent to keep children out of the cold during flu season and control crowds that tax public safety resources.

Pierce in Lake County said taking appointments would have delayed delivery. Yet, we watched Arlington Heights set up an appointment system overnight, delivering 1,000 shots that arrived unexpectedly.

This is not a time to make excuses. Now that we have some experience, see how others are doing it right. Our health depends on it.