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Walkersville Elementary School's Parent Teacher Association helped inoculate 177 area residents Saturday against the seasonal flu virus, thanks to a national program that brings vaccines to schools.

Many who participated in the event were pleased because they said the vaccine has been difficult to find.

"I liked it because it was hard for me to get in to my pediatrician to have the shot done there, so this was convenient," said Andra Pinetti, a resident of the Dearbought subdivision and mother of two young children. "And you don't have to take your kids out of school."

PTA representatives set up gym games and coloring stations for children to engage in while they waited, easing nerves about the shot.

"My husband and kids both played in the gym," said Carol van Doorn, another Dearbought resident with two elementary school-age children.

"And it was nice to have the option of going there because a lot of pediatricians especially don't have [the seasonal vaccine] in stock," said van Doorn, who added that she, her husband and both of her children received a shot.

James Sniezek, president of the Walkersville Elementary School PTA, said the clinic went smoothly, and the school hopes to take part in the program again next year. This was the first year the school had offered the clinic, and it only cost the PTA about $180, he said.

"Early on in the year when school had just started, we received a flier from the National PTA that talked about the Flu Busters program," he said. "We wanted to see if we could effectively vaccinate as many of our students against the seasonal flu as possible."

Sniezek said he gets his own children vaccinated every year, and he thought the clinic would make it much easier for other parents to inoculate their children against the virus as well. The shot cost $25 per person.

Although many students from Walkersville Elementary School received the shot, "students from all Walkersville feeder system schools were among the immunized," Sniezek said. "Several parents and grandparents were also immunized."

E-mail Courtney Pomeroy at cpomeroy@gazette.net.