SAN ANTONIO – It was the slogan of summer vacation: no shots, no school.
But many kids still spent the first day of school at the doctor’s office instead of the classroom.
Metro Health’s main downtown location was inundated with families waiting for immunizations.
Just one hour after the doors opened there was a line down the sidewalk, and some families received bad news: all of Monday’s appointments were booked.
The line was filled with students sporting their school uniform or a trendy backpack.
"I want to go to school,” Vanessa Chavez’s daughter says. “She wants to go to school,” Chavez repeats.
"I just told them - put on a pretty face because they're going to look at you like, oh they're hooky players,” grandmother Sylvia Uriegas.
Some humor, since all the students in line are skipping school because – for whatever reason – they couldn’t make time to get the necessary immunizations over the summer.
"A lot of places where they were giving immunizations were jam-packed,” Uriegas says. "I think my daughter was 5,018. They were on 2,000. They were going very slow."
And, like all overdue homework, it’s time to play catch-up, but they are only so many kids Metro Health can see in one day.
"In fact, our first available appointment is Thursday, but they're filling up fast,” Carol Schliesinger with Metro Health says. “Last time I checked there were only six left."
Some families were told to come back in a few hours.
"We're just going to stay here and wait,” Uriegas says.
Others will try their luck Tuesday, because after all – no shots, no school.
Metro Health says there are other options for families to get the immunizations, including Central Med, University Health Systems, HEB, Walgreens and Texas Med Clinic.
