"We take the top part, and we put it into this part and twist," says Christen Callon, as she puts the pieces of a hypodermic needle together.
Not bad for a handful of volunteers who know more about crunching numbers than piecing together the instruments needed for a mass vaccination effort.
"Normally we would be working on the budget," she notes.
Over the last two months, health workers have vaccinated 9,000 students in Harford County for the H1N1 virus, but a large shipment has arrived, which will allow them to almost double that number in the next two weeks.
"It's all hands on deck," said County Health Officer Susan Kelly, who has pledged to finish the task of vaccinating students for the swine flu before they head home for the holidays, "We're looking at the Christmas holidays, and I think it's very important to try to get the students before they break for the holiday season."
That entails providing doses to 8,400 students in 26 weeks, and next week, many of those same workers will be vaccinating middle school students with the seasonal Flu-Mist.
Those who volunteer know, from their own experience, just how important it is to distribute the vaccine as soon as it arrives.
"My own daughter just had her shot a few weeks ago,” said Callon, “and my niece and nephews had their shots and definitely friends with children that are still looking to get their shots."
Health officials in Harford County say once they’ve vaccinated all of the school students, they will begin distributing doses to other high risk groups, like caregivers and people with underlying health conditions, as they become available.
