Crowdsourcing for crowd containment: Tweets on Boston’s free H1N1 vaccine clinics

The Boston Public Health Commission plans to use microblogging site Twitter to give residents real-time information about two H1N1 vaccine clinics scheduled for this weekend.

The two clinics — one in Hyde Park on Saturday, and one in West Roxbury on Sunday — are expected to attract large numbers of individuals seeking the vaccine. The Twitter updates will let residents know how long the lines are, along with other pertinent information.

“We are pleased that, because of the increased availability of vaccine, we can offer vaccination to a large number of high-risk Boston residents,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, BPHC’s executive director, said in a statement. “However, we want to limit the time that people spend waiting in line and Twitter will help us push out information on how the clinics are proceeding.”

People can follow the clinic updates by visiting the Commission’s Web site, bphc.org, and clicking on the Twitter button or the Flu Alert link, or they can sign up for a free Twitter account and follow the Commission at twitter.com/healthyboston.

Clinics will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Hyde Park High School, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Ohrenberger School in West Roxbury.

The free clinics are only for Boston residents who fall into any of the high-risk groups, including pregnant women, children and young people ages 36 months through 24 years, people who live with or provide care for infants younger than 6 months, including parents, siblings and day care providers, health care and emergency medical workers who have direct patient contact. Vaccine will also be made available to residents ages 25 through 64 with chronic health problems.