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Dates: August 1 - 26, 2011 Monday through Friday
Time: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location: Fresno County Department of Public Health
1221 Fulton Mall
1st Floor
Fresno, CA 93721
Additional Information:
Parent or legal guardian must be present for children under 18 years
Bring child's insurance card or Medi-Cal card
Bring all immunization records
No one will be refused services due to inability to pay
Online:
www.fcdph.org/tdaplaw
Fresno Unified Students
Saturday, august 6th at Hoover High School
5550 N. First Street in rooms 112-115
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Hundreds of Fresno Unified students started gearing up for the new school year Saturday. They attended a health clinic which offered free whooping cough vaccinations and physical exams.
Fresno Unified students start school on August 22. Normally, they would have to get their shots by then, but a new law passed giving them an extra month.
Since well before 9 a.m. Saturday dozens of students and their parents lined up outside Sunnyside High School in Southeast Fresno.
California law requires all seventh through twelfth grade students get a Tdap vaccine. It's the shot, designed to prevent whooping cough.
"Usually with the common cold, people will have a cough and will pass over within a few days or a week, and whooping cough can be much more persistent."
Maneuvering through the line outside was only the first step. Once inside, people continued to wait for more than an hour," Dr. Don Yoshimura from Kaiser Permanente said.
'What was the line like?" "Terrible. It's hot and sweaty. Very long, very long," Cheryl Guynn said.
"Really, long, hot, frustrating, but i got it. Over and done with," Britnee Lopez said.
Saturday's clinic is the second of three funded by a $15,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente Fresno. They provided enough vaccine for 400 people. Fresno Unified staff also helped by sifting through paperwork--and conducting sports physicals.
District officials say parents are now at an advantage. A new law just passed giving them extra time to make sure their child gets immunized.
"A law just passed July 25th for a thirty day extension, so it's thirty calendar days after the first day of school," Diane Torna, Fresno Unified's Dir. of Health Services said.
Parents we spoke to appreciate the extension. And while the wait was long Saturday, they say, it's worth it.
"Yes, because we're finally getting it over and done with. I think at my doctors' office, we would have waited a couple weeks, and we can't wait much longer," Norma Lopez said.
