The line for the swine flu vaccine snaked all the way around a parking garage behind the Utah County Health Department Thursday; some people waited close to two hours to get the vaccine.

What a difference a casualty makes.

"The deaths already in Utah are a big factor," said Cynthia Bingham of Lehi.

On Wednesday, the Utah Department of Health announced three swine flu deaths in the state, and the state is experiencing an outbreak of flu. Because October is so early in the flu season, health officials are treating all flu cases as novel H1N1, or swine flu.

So, about 4,200 people decided they wanted to be vaccinated against it, and they cleaned out the Utah County Health Department's second shipment of nasal spray in eight hours.

"It was incredible," health department spokesman Lance Madigan said of the line. "We expected a good turnout because the kids were out of school today, but we were not expecting the response that we got."

Thursday's clinic was scheduled to start at 9 a.m., but nurses started vaccinating at 8:40 because of the line. The first shipment was distributed a week ago to a much smaller crowd. The lines were there, but much shorter.

The Binghams were close to going inside the building by 11:30 a.m., but they'd been there for more than an hour by then. Spence Bingham was actually in line long enough to update his Facebook status to reflect his activity. The Binghams' doctor recommended they get vaccinated, so the couple was there with their three children, all of whom are in school, for the nasal spray.

Brooke Greathead, of Spanish Fork, was in line with her 2-year-old twins; after an hour and a half of waiting, they could see the door to get inside.

"I'm just nervous with all the reports, and I want to make sure I safeguard my kids and do everything I can," she said.

She was surprised when she pulled up into the overflow parking lot Thursday morning how many other parents had the same idea that day.

"I didn't realize that there would be this many people," she said.

Neither did Lance and Amber Ferguson of Lehi, who had been waiting for an hour and a half to get themselves and three of their children vaccinated. The fourth, who is four months old, can't get the vaccine. He was the reason the rest were getting it.

"I don't want him to get it," Amber Ferguson said of the flu.

The wait was unexpected, but they decided to just get the vaccine anyway.

"Since we're here, we might as well stay, I guess," Lance Ferguson said.

Considering the hundreds of children waiting in line plus the two-hour waits for some people, it moved fairly smoothly, Madigan said.

"For that kind of patience, all we can do is say thank you to the community," he said.

The clinic, at 151 S. University Ave., will open at 8 a.m. today to distribute the approximately 1,000 doses of injectable vaccine it still has. The shot is only for children ages six months to two years and pregnant women. They expect the next shipment in sometime next week. For more information on when more vaccine will be available, call (801) 851-2222 or 211 or visit the health department's Web site at www.utahcountyhealth.org.

• Heidi Toth can be reached at (801) 344-2556 or htoth@heraldextra.com.

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