Seasonal Influenza Mass Vaccination Clinic Exercises

Learning Objectives for this Presentation:
By the end of the presentation participants will be able to:
1. Identify critical elements for evaluation in mass vaccination clinics
2. Compare and contrast mass vaccination clinic designs
3. Extrapolate mass vaccination time study data to a pandemic influenza scenario

Background:
Mass vaccination is an essential global planning component of public health preparedness for seasonal and pandemic influenza. As part of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) pandemic influenza preparedness planning, mass vaccination was evaluated at three clinics in South Carolina.

Objectives:
The primary study objective was to evaluate seasonal influenza mass vaccination clinics to obtain baseline throughput values (time study) for each clinic. The secondary objective was to apply throughput findings to a pandemic influenza scenario discussing implications for public health preparedness planning.

Methods:
Independent team members from SC DHEC's central office evaluated each of the three mass vaccination clinics. The clinic analysis included timed throughput of patient flow via magnetic cards and readers, best practices/ barriers, incident command structure, and vaccination practice issues. The clinics were located in Anderson, Florence and Myrtle Beach, SC.

Results:
Physical structure and flow route can influence throughput time. Staffing is a limiting factor when considering simultaneous clinics. The mean throughput time for the clinics ranged from 8 minutes 58 seconds to 12 minutes 9 seconds per patient vaccinated. In a pandemic influenza scenario using the seasonal influenza clinic models observed and 12-hour staffing, the time estimates required to vaccinate a region's population are: 51.8 days (Anderson - population 481,950), 209.8 days (Florence - population 533,868) and 70.9 days (Myrtle Beach - population 323,370).

Conclusions:
Awareness of the resource and time intensive needs of mass vaccination efforts are essential to consider in public health preparedness planning.