Hundreds of Carleton students waited in line at Fenn Lounge this week to be immunized with the H1N1 flu vaccine, part of a wide-scale immunization effort by the City of Ottawa.

Within hours of an e-mail announcement sent to students, faculty and staff, registrations for the first-come, first-served clinics were fully booked.

The clinics run from Dec. 1-3 between 2-5:30 p.m., and more are being scheduled for the week of Dec. 7.

About 120 people will be immunized per day, three days a week, said Patty Allen, registered nurse and health educator with Carleton’s Health and Counselling Services. When classes begin in January, immunization clinics will resume.

Allen said there won’t be shortages of vaccines available to the Carleton community.

“We get it as we need it,” she said.

Some students were unaware that Carleton offered vaccines until the clinics were booked up. “By the time I found out about it all the spots were full,” said first-year political science student Erik Rowell. A lack of on-campus advertising and students’ failure to check their e-mails in time contributed to this unawareness, said first-year psychology student Miya Nussbaum.

She is among many who are anxious to be vaccinated.

“I’d rather be safe than sorry,” Nussbaum said.

Off-campus student Sara Lafreniere decided to get the vaccine to avoid catching the flu from her many friends who have fallen ill.

“It’s really scary because it’s affecting people that are close to me.”

Others are being vaccinated to avoid spreading the flu at home – especially to young siblings and older relatives – and at work.

But some do not plan on getting vaccinated because. Rowell said he believes good eating habits and frequent hand washing are preventative enough. Others worry that the risks and possible side effects associated with the vaccine could be worse than the flu itself.

“I’m not getting the H1N1 vaccine, mainly because it is much too new and I feel that it has not been adequately tested yet,” said first-year environmental science student Jaclyn White.

Other students have seen their friends recover from H1N1 in a very short time and agree that media hype has blown the situation out of proportion.

“It’s been overblown much like SARS, West Nile, mad cow, anthrax,” said journalism student Jill Krajewski.

According to the City of Ottawa, 418 Ottawa residents have been tested positive for H1N1 since September. Swine flu was a factor in the deaths of six people, five of whom had chronic medical conditions.

At Carleton, students have contracted the flu at normal rates for this time of year, and cases of H1N1 have been on the decline for several weeks.

Still, noted Allen, students shouldn’t take this to mean that they are no longer at risk of getting the virus, and getting the vaccine is a good idea.

“There’s still a whole winter to go, so students might as well get it.”

Find out more about upcoming clinics and getting vaccinated at http://www.carleton.ca/h1n1.