The Shots: Hypo-Tension

Elizabeth Wheeler maintained a brave facade until she saw the needle. Then her eyes popped open wide and she whirled around to grab her father’s hand.

“Oh-h-h-h!” she squealed, screwing her face into a grimace. Nurse Lucille Murray planted the hypodermic needle in Elizabeth’s left arm and the 5-year-old with the blond curls burst into tears.

Elizabeth, who will start kindergarten Tuesday at Taft Elementary School in Orange, was one of the thousands of youngsters in the last-minute stampede for immunizations that are required before students can begin school in Orange County.

She was among more than 500 children who received free vaccinations one day recently at the Orange County Health Care Agency’s Santa Ana clinic. The oral polio vaccine, administered in a couple of drops onto her tongue, was a breeze. Two shots, which combined protection against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTP) and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), took a little more fortitude.

The Santa Ana clinic, always busy, has been swamped in the last two weeks, said Dr. Gerald Wagner, medical director of the immunization program. County officials estimate 200,000 free vaccinations will be administered this year to roughly 100,000 young patients. Two-thirds of those shots will be given at the Santa Ana clinic.