Oregon Public Broadcasting

Clark County is organizing a so called "Mega Clinic" for Saturday. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, the idea is to vaccinate thousands of people against the H1N1 virus at the same time.

For years, Clark County and health departments around Oregon have practiced for a catastrophic event -- whether it be a plane crash; a terrorist attack; or an earthquake.

Now that practice is coming in useful as authorities in Vancouver set up a mega-clinic.

Marni Storey, a manager at Clark County Public Health Department, says they'll have greeters, people who register patients and nurses.

Marni Storey: "We have a flow that we believe will get people through the line as quickly as possible. Our target is to do 500 people per hour."

Storey says they will have enough inoculant to treat the 3000 to 5000 people they're hoping will turn up. She says they'll have nasal mist sprays -- with weakened, but live virus -- and the traditional injectable vaccine.

But vaccine will be restricted to pregnant women, healthcare workers, children aged 6 months to 19 years old, parents of children younger than six months, and people up to 64, who have chronic medical conditions.

So the question is, when will vaccine be available for everyone else?

Marni Storey: "Well, that's the billion dollar question. We don't have a lot of information from the CDC or the vaccine manufacturers at this point when we'll have larger supplies of vaccine. So it's really dependent on when we feel like we've vaccinated enough of these high risk groups." 

Originally, there'd been a call for 60 nurses and 180-non-medical volunteers, but those places have now been filled up by experts from the Red Cross, the Medical Reserve Corps and the Community for Disaster Preparedness.

Cheryl Bledsoe, with Clark Regional Emergency Services, says volunteers will be staggered throughout the day.

Cheryl Bledsoe: "It's for two different shifts so it'll be split into 90 general volunteers and 30 nurses for morning shift from 9 a.m. to 2:45  and then a second shift from 2:30 to 8 p.m."

Vaccines will be given out on a first-come-first-serve basis and free of charge.

People with health insurance, however, will be asked to show their card so public health agencies can be reimbursed for administrative fees.