Hundreds Drive Up to Receive Flu Shot

The hundreds of people in line for the coveted flu vaccine on Wednesday were much like those who have crowded into health clinics or outside doctor’s offices.

But in typical Southern California fashion, they sat in their cars--listening to music or talk radio--before cruising up to a waiting nurse, rolling up their sleeves and enduring a second of pain at a drive-through flu clinic outside St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

Some of the lucky 320 who got the shots ended up waiting for three hours, others a mere hour and a half. But most didn’t seem to mind sitting in the warm sun, as they waited for the quick shot that might keep them well through the winter.

The Ventura County Department of Public Health this week received about 3,400 doses of the flu serum from the state, which will go to four public health care clinics. About 600 of those doses were sent to St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

St. John’s Medical Center has offered the shot in drive-through fashion for the last five years, but this time around almost double the number of people showed up.