Island boards of health are encouraging Vineyarders to take extra precaution and receive free vaccinations at clinics scheduled for this weekend.

The drive-through clinics are today from 9 a.m. to noon at the West Tisbury School and Waban Park in Oak Bluffs.

A free flu shot clinic hosted last Sunday by the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Vineyard Nursing Association and Island boards of health was called a success by town officials and health care workers.

“We will be less sick as a little population because of this effort, and I wanted to commend the collaboration,” Cynthia Mitchell, West Tisbury selectman and executive at Island Health Clinic, said at the town selectmen’s meeting this week.

With a worsening early flu outbreak across the country causing a run on vaccines on the Island, the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and Island boards of health announced that they will hold a free clinic Sunday for Islanders seeking flu vaccinations. The clinic will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the hospital, Edgartown health agent Matthew Poole said. The clinic will be held in the physician's office building from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the hospital, Edgartown health agent Matthew Poole said.

As the Island boards of health begin to engage in a five-year effort to battle tick-borne illnesses on the Vineyard, early field work from a group of medical students on the Island points to serious deficiencies in reporting tick diseases to state public health officials, especially for Lyme disease.

A broad-based effort to combat Lyme disease is now underway on the Vineyard, with the objective of better documenting and preventing the tick-borne illness that has affected untold numbers of year-round Islanders, summer residents and casual visitors.