Waiting in line is never fun. Neither are shots.

“It’s not like at Disneyland where there’s a ride at the end,” acknowledged Powell resident Sarah Larson, who was waiting with her young children, Eliana, 5, and Noah, 3, for H1N1 shots at the Delaware County Fairgrounds on Wednesday.

Larson, who is pregnant, said several health professionals and especially her obstetrician recommended she get the shot, too. She was approaching the front of the line after waiting for about 40 minutes.

“I’m just happy that we are able to get one,” she said.

The Larsons were among the 1,233 people that received vaccines at the Delaware Area Health District’s free flu clinic, held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday. The health district had been prepared to give up to 2,500 vaccines, and will be scheduling another clinic soon, spokesman Jesse Carter said.

The lines were relatively short, especially compared to last week’s clinic at Buckeye Valley High School, where some reported waiting for up to five hours.

Health officials said holding the clinic at the fairgrounds eliminated the traffic snarls that last week led some frustrated people to abandon their cars in the berm and walk down Coover Road.

On Wednesday morning, people who talked to the Gazette reported waiting between one and two hours for their shots. As the afternoon went on, the wait time shrank to practically nothing, health officials said.

Ostrander residents Liz Mayberry and her children James, 5, and Sarah, 2, waited for a little more than an hour, collapsible lawn chairs in tow.

“I expected hours,” she said, emphasizing the plural.

Delaware Health Commissioner Fran Ververka said the health district moved the clinic to the fairgrounds, which has far more parking than the high school, at the advice of the sheriff’s office.

And other clinics will likely be at the fairgrounds or a similarly large venue, “as long as there are huge lines,” she said.

Scheduling the clinic during the day led some parents to grumble about pulling their kids out of school, but health officials said they are rotating when the clinics are held so they are available to different people.

Wednesday’s clinic was only open to people in “high risk” categories: pregnant women, children 6 months to 18 years and their parents and health care providers giving direct patient care. The health district will make clinics available to other groups as it receives more vaccines, officials said.

Last week, health officials were surprised by the estimated 5,000 cars that showed up, bottle-necking Coover Road and U.S. 23N. Ververka attributed the high number to members of the same household arriving at the clinic in separate cars.

Besides addressing parking issues, the other lesson health officials learned was to try to make information more readily available and answer people’s questions while they waited in line, rather than waiting until they were in the vaccination station.

Wednesday’s clinic also featured some “creature comforts,” as officials called it. A fairground’s food vendor opened for business and sold Italian sausage, burgers and hot beverages to families and health district workers alike.

A spatula-wielding Sherry Fisher, of Delaware, said the chilly temperatures, which hovered in the mid-40s in the morning, was good for business.

With reports of nearby Franklin County’s H1N1 clinic running out of vaccines and closing early on Tuesday, the only shortage on Wednesday in Delaware to be found was in the food stand.

“There’s a lot of hot chocolate going out the windows,” Fisher said. “We’re going to have to get more.”

atobias@delgazette.com