Administration Of FluMist Vaccine for H1N1 In Wicomico Schools To Begin Thursday, Oct. 22, At Fruitland Primary School

The Wicomico County School System and the Wicomico County Health Department will be working together in the coming weeks to offer the FluMist intranasal vaccine to Wicomico elementary students, starting with a FluMist clinic for Fruitland Primary School students at 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22.

Dates for FluMist clinics in other schools will soon be announced, as will several after-school clinics when parents/guardians may bring in older children to receive the H1N1 vaccination by injection. Consent forms for the H1N1 vaccine have already gone home to many elementary parents/guardians, and students whose parents sign and return the consent form will receive the vaccination free on the day that their school’s clinic is scheduled.

Students at Fruitland Primary and Beaver Run Elementary will be the first to receive the H1N1 vaccine because their students had not been vaccinated before the state’s suspension of the FluMist program for seasonal flu earlier this month. Administration of the seasonal flu vaccine in schools was suspended at the direction of state health officials to ensure that students would be ready to have the H1N1 vaccine when it became available, as there must be a four-week interval between administration of the two active viruses.

Through the 2009 FluMist vaccination effort by the Wicomico County Health Department and Wicomico County Public Schools, more than 2,200 students K-5 were vaccinated against the seasonal flu between Sept. 24 and Oct. 1. The Health Department said parents/guardians can have their child vaccinated with the injectable form of the seasonal vaccine through their pediatrician, or the county Health Department, Brewster said. A parent who wants their child to receive the injectable form of the seasonal flu vaccine at the Wicomico County Health Department can call 410-543-6943.

As of last week, the Health Department had gotten a total of 500 doses of H1N1 vaccine, about 300 in an intranasal form as well as 200 in the traditional injectable shot version. Priority is being given to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified target groups which include children, parents of children under 6 months old, pregnant women, medical and emergency first responders, and adults with underlying medical conditions.

Dates for the H1N1 vaccination clinics will be posted on the Wicomico County Health Department website at www.wicomicohealth.org, and on the Public Health Information Line, at 410-543-6943, as soon as the H1N1 vaccine arrives and clinic schedules are determined. Information on H1N1 news, prevention tips and clinics is posted at http://www.wicomicohealth.org/H1N1Flu.htm .

Tips for parents/guardians on preventing H1N1 are available on the school system’s web site at http://www.wcboe.org/resources/documents/H1N1newforparents.pdf.