Thousands showed up for the free H1N1 immunization clinic at Buckeye Valley High School Monday, resulting in a bigger traffic jam than organizers and vaccine seekers expected.

By the time the immunizations started being given out yesterday, brake lights stretched nearly a mile down U.S. 23 as cars inched north to turn on Coover Road toward the school. Vaccine seekers were in near-standstill traffic on both sides of Coover Road outside the school. Some drivers resorted to haphazardly parking on the side of the road and walking.

“I’m not going to sit here and wait all day,” said Mark Fuller, a Delaware resident who chose to park his car along Coover Road and push his three-year-old daughter in a stroller the rest of the way.

Other drivers waited in their cars and did their best to entertain their young passengers.

“I knew it was going to be crazy, but I didn’t expect to sit on U.S. 23 for half an hour,” Lewis Center resident Pam Streiche said from her unmoving van.

Streiche said she and her three children had been in the car for nearly an hour and a half already. Despite long lines outside and inside the school, parents like Streiche were determined to get H1N1 vaccinations.

The clinic, organized by the Delaware General Health District (DGHD), was the county’s first free wide-scale H1N1 immunization opportunity. It was for four priority groups: pregnant women, children six months old to 18 years old, parents or caregivers of children under six months old and health care providers giving direct patient care.

“People have been very understanding (of the delays), the crowds are just great. The traffic, however, extended much further than we had anticipated,” said Frances M. Veverka, Delaware Health Commissioner.

Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol and DGHD members helped direct traffic outside the building. Inside the high school, 19 nurses at stations in the gymnasium worked to vaccinate as many people as possible.

In the first 45 minutes, 179 immunizations were administered. By 6 p.m., 765 immunizations were given out and officials had run out of injectors and needles for children under three, according to Jesse Carter, DGHD spokesman.

The health district had roughly 2,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine for the clinic, including both injection and FluMist nasal-spray vaccines.

Carter said it looked like it “might be close” whether vaccination supplies would run out.

“We will be cutting off the line at 8 p.m. and beyond that it might be a matter of how much vaccine we have left,” Carter said.

Many of the parents and children who received the vaccine said they were glad they came out.

“It wasn’t that bad, they didn’t even cry,” said Lewis Center resident Olivia Allen, pointing to her two boys. “Those who assisted us were wonderful and the wait was really better than I expected.”

On the warm fall day, people lined up in the parking lot outside the school to wait for the vaccine. Some turned back when they heard reports of long waits from those exiting the building.

“I’m just worried about how we’re going to get home,” said Knox Fields, a junior at Buckeye Valley High School.

Fields and fellow student Matt Schwartz were participating in an after-school activity when they discovered the crowd of people outside.

Bus driver Sandy Barrows, who was at a standstill in traffic, said she was 50 minutes behind schedule on her route to the school.

The high school was inundated with phone calls on Monday about the H1N1 clinic, according Veverka. She said the DGHD will try to encourage all people to contact the health district with questions during future clinics.

More clinics will be scheduled once the health district receives additional H1N1 vaccine doses. The DGHD estimates another shipment of the federally-deployed vaccine will arrive on Tuesday, said Veverka, but the date and location of the next clinic has not been specified.

“We don’t know how much (vaccine) or when exactly it will arrive,” Veverka said.

People not in the high-risk categories will be eligible for the vaccine at an unspecified later date once all the priority groups are vaccinated, officials said.

People who want the H1N1 vaccine are encouraged to pre-register online at www.delawarehealth.org and bring their pre-registration form with them to the next clinic.

bbullock@delgazette.com