Clinics Offer Free Vaccinations : Medicine: Health officials and private groups are sponsoring the weekend immunization effort because only half of preschool-age children are fully protected.

In an effort to have all children in Orange County fully immunized by their second year, a coalition of public and private organizations unveiled a plan Monday to offer free immunizations this weekend.

Only half the preschool-age children in the county are fully immunized against childhood diseases, and a fourth of children under age 2 are not immunized at all, county health officials said.

The result is that many small children are at high risk of acquiring communicable diseases that can be prevented, said David Lang, chief doctor of immunology for Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

“On one hand, we are relatively blessed because we don’t have to face these diseases on a routine basis,” Lang said at a press conference at the county Health Care Agency in Santa Ana. “But that’s becoming a mixed blessing because we seem to have forgotten that the reason for the decline is the vaccines that are available.”

Lang said some parents who do not remember polio or diphtheria outbreaks may not understand the importance of vaccinations. To underscore his point Monday, Lang played a tape recording of an infant coughing and crying as it gasped for air, a victim of pertussis, or whooping cough.

“We in child health don’t forget as readily as the general public the possible results of not immunizing children,” Lang said.

Lang speculated that the decline in immunization of the county’s children is due to a combination of the forgotten dangers of childhood disease and a change in the county’s demographics. Immunization among the county’s immigrant population is very low, he said.

Vaccinations against polio, measles, mumps, rubella and other serious childhood illnesses will be available at more than a dozen sites countywide for children from age 2 months to 2 years. Also, children under 1 can be immunized against hepatitis B.

The county Health Care Agency and the state are underwriting the cost of the vaccinations.

The high cost of immunizations from private physicians is another reason for the decline in parents’ vaccinating their children. But county health officials said they have responded to that by offering free vaccinations at county clinics on a regular basis.

Catherine Almaraz was at the Santa Ana clinic Monday having her 7-month-old daughter immunized. Almaraz said she brought her daughter, Jasmine, to the clinic after her regular pediatrician stopped offering vaccinations. Almaraz winced as the nurse stuck a needle in her daughter.

“I hate having to bring her here to do this,” Almaraz said. “But I’d hate it more if she were to get a disease just because I was afraid of watching her get a shot.”

Educating parents is part of Saturday’s free clinics, said Dianna DeVane, chairwoman of the Orange County Immunization Coalition, which is organizing the event.

“This Saturday’s immunization program is designed not only to get the children immunized but to educate parents that the cost of immunization does not have to be a factor in protecting their children,” DeVane said.

To make the day less traumatic for the tots being immunized, the Junior League of Orange County will provide refreshments and coloring books at many of the vaccination sites. The Children’s Hospital of Orange County clinic will also have entertainment for the children.

Free Shots

Immunizations will be offered at no cost from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the following locations:

Health Care Agency, 1725 W. 17th St., Santa Ana, (714) 834-8560.

Garfield School, 820 Brown St., Santa Ana, (714) 558-5629.

Health Care Agency, 27512 Calle Arroyo, San Juan Capistrano, (714) 834-8560.

Jeffrey-Lynn Center, 1633 S. Jeffrey Drive, Anaheim, (714) 956-7145.

Delhi Center, 542 E. Central Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 549-1317.

Corbin Community Center, 2215 W. McFadden Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 547-3046.

Valencia Community Center, 301 W. Valencia Drive, Fullerton, (714) 490-6978.

Health Care Agency, 2845 Mesa Verde Drive, Costa Mesa, (714) 834-8560.

Grant School, 333 E. Walnut St., Santa Ana, (714) 558-5629.

CHOC Clinic, 455 S. Main St., Orange, (714) 532-8680.

Health Care Agency, 7212 Orangethorpe Ave., Buena Park, (714) 834-8560.

Oak View Center, 17261 Oak St., Huntington Beach, (714) 960-8858.

St. Ann’s Church, 1324 S. Main St., Santa Ana, (714) 835-7434.

Lestonnac Clinic, 1215 E. Chapman Ave., Orange, (714) 633-4600.

Stanton Neighborhood Center, 11822 Santa Paula St., Stanton, (714) 891-4868.