A first of its kind Lyme disease vaccine trial ran into a road block last weekend as the developers announced they had discontinued the study for about half of the thousands of participants in the U.S. — including those on Martha’s Vineyard.

Flu season is bad this year across the country and Island health care leaders are taking note, with an extra immunization clinic announced this week.

Vineyard Medical Care announced this week that three familiar physicians have joined the Vineyard Haven walk-in clinic, as laboratory services and research work continue to expand.

Vineyard Medical Care (formerly Vineyard Medical Services) is on track to blaze new trails after a recent change of ownership brings with it an added focus on clinical research, including into tick-borne illnesses and laboratory diagnostics.

Islanders seem to voice the complaint nearly as often as they grumble about summer traffic backups at the blinker light and spiking prices at the gas pump:

You can’t find a primary care doctor on the Island.

When Vineyarders tuned in to FOX yesterday afternoon, they found the familiar, reassuring visage of Dr. Mehmet Oz. Next to him was an even more familiar face, that of Islander Marcy Holmes.

“It was a surprise. I haven’t been groomed for this,” Ms. Holmes said Thursday. “I don’t have the stage experience that Gerry has,” a lighthearted reference to her Vineyard Medical Services colleague and man of the stage Dr. Gerry Yukevich.