Schools start flu vaccinations

Amidst tears, lollipops and temporary tattoos, Unionville Elementary School students rolled up their sleeves on Friday to receive the H1N1 vaccine.
Unionville students were the first in the county to receive the vaccine in a process that took approximately two hours, with five students receiving the vaccine at a time.
"I was really surprised by how efficient it was," Jan Carpenter, Orange County Public School director of special education, said.
Registered nurse volunteers from the Rappahanock-Rapidan Health District administered the shots. According to Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District Health Director Robert Dana Bradshaw, MD, MPH, the team was one of three administering shots in Orange, Madison and Culpeper.
Originally, vaccinations were supposed to begin Oct. 22 in all Orange County elementary schools, followed by the middle schools and high school. However, due to a shortage in the amount of vaccine received, the schedule is now undetermined.
"Production of the vaccine has been a little slower than anticipated," Bradshaw said. "It depends on how fast it can be produced, shipped from the Centers for Disease Control to the state and then sent out to us as to when vaccinations will begin in the other schools. We will schedule more vaccine clinics as soon as we receive it and get it out to the kids as fast as we can."
The health department still believes that all vaccinations will be administered by November 9. Lightfoot Elementary School students will be the next to be vaccinated, then vaccinations will begin at Locust Grove Elementary School, followed by Gordon-Barbour Elementary School and the TEAC Head Start/Alternative Education Program, Orange Elementary School, Locust Grove Middle School, Prospect Heights Middle School and Orange County High School.
According to Orange County Schools Superintendent Dr. Robert P. Grimesey, the actual date of the vaccination clinics may not be known until late in the day prior to the clinic.
According to Bradshaw, the virus seems to be effecting people ages 6 months to 24 years more than older people. For this reason, the vaccine is being offered to those people first, especially elementary students because they seem to get infected the easiest. As more becomes available, the vaccine will be offered to others.
"Once we have enough schools vaccinated and we receive more vaccine, private healthcare and the health department will [begin offering] it," Bradshaw said.
Also, children under 10 have to receive two doses of the vaccine, administered three to four weeks apart. People over 10 only need one dose.
As of Oct. 21, only 2,198 students in Orange County Schools, or 43.01 percent, have requested the vaccine.
"I was surprised," Grimesey said. "I expected it to be more like 66 or 75 percent of students [requesting the vaccine]."
According to the schools' website, 252 students are currently experiencing flu-like illness. According to the Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Health District, if a person has symptoms consistent with influenza, it's reasonable to assume at this point that it is novel H1N1 flu because there is little, if any, seasonal influenza circulating recently in our area.
For more information on H1N1 and the current status of the vaccination schedule, visit the Orange County Public School website at occs-va.org.