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Miami administers H1N1 vaccine to students

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By Ryan Gauthier, Staff Writer Updated 10:03 AM Thursday, November 5, 2009

A couple winced. Some coughed. Quite a few sniffled.

Plenty of tissues were on hand.

Several hundred Miami University students turned out for the first of two H1N1 flu mist vaccination clinics on Wednesday, Nov. 4, lining up inside of Millett Hall to receive one of 4,000 doses of swine flu vaccine. The second clinic was scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5.

Seniors Lucas Goldbach and Lauren Hucek said their professor told them to ditch class to attend the vaccination clinic.

“She said we should go and take care of it because our health is more important than our class,” Goldbach said.

Goldbach, 21, said he planned to be “super careful” for the remainder of the day, planning to eat well and drink plenty of water as a precautionary measure.

“It just seems like it makes sense,” he said. “Even if it doesn’t help, I’ll feel better knowing that I did it.”

Sophomore Angela Lloyd said she was coaxed into attending the clinic by her boyfriend’s mother, who is a nurse. The 20-year-old said the flu mist was not what she expected it to be, as she did not even notice the vaccine had been administered at first.

“I thought I was going to have to snort it up or something, but it was just kind of like a mist,” Lloyd said.

Senior Zach Milano, 22, said he and several friends decided to get vaccinated after receiving phone calls from their mothers.

“I think my mom is more worried about this than I am,” Milano said.

Gail Walenga, assistant vice president for student health and wellness, said there are no plans to immunize faculty and staff members, as students are more susceptible to the flu.

“Our first priority is the student population,” Walenga said. “If we have some available after we get our students immunized, then we might consider making it available to university employees.”

Miami initially ordered 14,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine, but had only received 4,000 as of Wednesday.

“We are in the same situation as everyone else right now,” she said. “There’s just not a lot of vaccine available yet.”

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