Countywide : To Children, Free Shots No Big Hit

Darlene Tovar, 4, sat sniffling next to her mother a few minutes after receiving three shots Monday. Her face had been painted by a clown before the shots, but Darlene still wiped away tears. She nodded her head when her mother asked if it hurt.

She was among children who received free inoculations from doctors at Chapman General Hospital’s Pan American Clinic in Santa Ana. The vaccines were donated by the county’s Health Care Agency.

“When you only have one income, it’s really nice to get them for free,” said Darlene’s mother, Yolanda Tovar. The Anaheim resident said her husband is a painter but she has no income-generating job.

The clinic gave shots to protect children against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, polio and meningitis, Dr. Heidi A. Winkler said.

Some of the vaccines were combined; a child got three shots at most, Winkler said, adding that the full course of vaccines would normally cost $75 at the clinic.

Although doctors had prepared to vaccinate up to 500 children, only about 40 had arrived by the time the free session was half over, Winkler said.

Although parents who came to the clinic at 1206 E. 17th St. were pleased about the free shots, their children were less enthusiastic.

Georgina Venegas of Anaheim, who brought her twin girls for vaccines, had praise for the speed with which Alicia and Diana, 2, were treated.

“I have to wait in long line until my babies are attended to,” Venegas said of the Anaheim clinic where her children receive care. “But here I was one of the first in line,” and it was only minutes before her daughters got the two shots they needed.

Roseann Gonzalez, Hispanic community liaison for Chapman General, said that fewer than half the county’s children are properly immunized.

“I think there’s a lack of knowledge in the community about the vaccinations,” she said. About 300 children are seen at the clinic each month, Gonzalez said.

A woman dressed as the popular television character Barney mingled with the youngsters to cheer them up after their shots.

“When you’re healthy, you feel good,” proclaimed the purple dinosaur as she hugged children and shook their hands.