TodayNorthern York School District to receive H1N1 vaccine
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Local NewsNorthern York has been randomly chosen as the first school district in York County to receive swine flu immunizations.
Vaccinations begin at 9 a.m. Monday and will be administered only to students enrolled in the district and only those with parent-signed consent forms. The decision was announced Tuesday by the York Adams Metropolitan Medical Response System.
The inoculation schedule is as follows: Monday, Dillsburg Elementary/Northern Elementary; Tuesday, South Mountain Elementary/Wellsville Elementary; Wednesday, Northern Middle School; and Thursday, Northern High School.
Thus far, 1,585 consent forms have been received, or roughly 50 percent of total enrollment. H1N1 Vaccination Coordinator Kevin Alvarnaz will do a walk-through inspection of the district vaccination sites with Superintendent Linda Lemmon Thursday morning beginning at 9 a.m.
A YAMMRS representative and building principal will be present at all vaccination clinics and serve as media contacts to approve any students photographed during inoculations.
Many Cumberland County school districts are seeking the swine flu immunizations for their students. Mechanicsburg Area School District reports an increase in the number of students with flu-like illness at all schools over the past week and officials expect those numbers to increase.
MASD has been “actively pursuing arrangements to provide school-age children access to the vaccinations,” the district reports on its Web site. “Once we receive notification that vaccine is available for our students we will provide notification of the vaccination arrangements to all parents of school age children within the district.”
Vaccines coming
More than 22 million doses of swine/H1N1 flu vaccine are available now, and most Americans should soon find it easier to get their dose, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.
“We’re beginning to get to significant increases in the availability,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a briefing.
Last week there were just 14 million doses on hand, despite predictions that as many as 120 million doses would be ready by mid-October. The slow supply trickle has frustrated Americans, who have stood in line for hours in some parts of the country.
The shortage has probably increased demand, Frieden said. “It’s quite likely that too little vaccine is one of the things that’s making people more interested in getting vaccinated, frankly. When we have shortages, we see an increase in demand,” he said.
The vaccine is grown in eggs in a reliable but slow process, and smaller amounts of it were being produced per egg than expected. There were other snags, too, but health officials say manufacturers have overcome most of those and are making the vaccine more speedily.
The government has ordered 225 million doses.
CDC officials estimate that the swine flu virus, first identified in April, has killed at least 1,000 Americans and caused at least mild illness in many millions of others.The pandemic started in a frightening burst of cases in certain parts of the country, including New York, Boston and parts of the Southwest. Illnesses diminished somewhat in the summer and then began increasing across the country as schools reopened roughly two months ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
