Unless you’ve got little kids or are under 24 (and apparently the young people care not for this vaccine, if the Post is to be believed), you probably haven’t even tried to go get an H1N1 vaccine yet. The District government only late last week opened up its free vaccine clinics to adults over age 24, and for the time being, that only includes adults with underlying health conditions such as asthma or diabetes, or those who are currently or will soon be caregivers of children under 6 months.

I have a history of mild to moderate asthma that’s generally triggered by two main outside influences: a severe allergy to cats, and influenza. Pretty much every time I get the flu, I end up in urgent care or the ER because I can barely breathe. So on Saturday afternoon, I went to Cardozo Senior High School to get my shot.

The first thing I noticed was how empty the place seemed. Cardozo is Ward 1’s main vaccine deployment facility, and I’d heard that there had been long lines earlier in the day, but there were maybe six people ahead of me, tops, when I arrived around 3 p.m. The clinic is also extremely well staffed and organized, so there was very little confusion about what I was supposed to do when I arrived. I filled out the single form they gave me, and then took it up to one of the nurses. You don’t need to bring any kind of ID, medical records or doctor’s note to prove that you have one of the qualifying conditions, but you may need to answer a couple of questions about your medical history. After that, I spent maybe five more minutes waiting in line to see one of the vaccine providers. She followed up with her own questions about my condition, then promptly gave me a quick, single shot in the left arm, and it was over.

I was fairly shocked at how fast and easy the process was, and I wasn’t alone. The woman ahead of me in line speculated that we may have just gotten lucky and arrived during a lull. She was there because her daughter is about to give birth at any moment and she plans on helping with the newborn, and she said she had tried to get a shot a couple of days before at Wilson High School in Ward 3, but that the line when she arrived there was around the block.

If you’ve already been to get your H1N1 vaccine, let us know what your experience was like in the comments. And if you’re still waiting to be eligible, it should be opened up to all adults by Nov. 16 at the latest. You can get more details about the District’s H1N1 vaccine clinics at flu.dc.gov.