Students getting H1N1 vaccine

The H1N1 vaccine continues to trickle into the county   and students are being vaccinated school by school as the new virus is slowing down but is still infecting young people at epidemic levels.

The next student H1N1 vaccination clinics will be held at all Brookings School District schools on Monday.

“This clinic is for students only,” nurse and School Board Chair Linda Morgan said.

The nasal vaccine will be offered to healthy children, while an injectable vaccine will be given to children with underlying health issues.

Parents are asked to bring health insurance cards for billing. The immunization will be free for those without insurance.

At Brookings-Harbor High School and Brookings Harbor Christian School students age 15 and older can sign for themselves, said Curry County Immunization Coordinator Kathie Wills.

Children can also get the vaccine at the Curry County Health Clinic in Gold Beach or the School-Based Health Clinic at Brookings-Harbor High School.

Parents should call ahead for availability.

Earlier this month 130 students were vaccinated at a clinic at Pacific High School  in Port Orford and at Gold Beach High School 100 were immunized, Wills said.

Due to a scheduling mix-up a planned clinic at Riley Creek K-8 was cancelled. Many of the school’s students received the shot at the Curry County Public Health Clinic in Gold Beach instead, Riley  Creek Principal Tom Denning said.

“I’m disappointed because this the only place you have all the kids in one place,” Denning said.

Denning is concerned that not enough of the children have been immunized for H1N1, especially with the height of flu season still a month or more away.

“If we had one child die of H1N1 in Curry County, the parents would be clamoring for the vaccine,” he said. “It’s sad that it takes a tragedy for people to take action.”

The county did not receive an expected shipment of vaccines last week, but expects to have enough to immunize Brookings children on Monday.

Once the student clinics are complete the county plans to offer the H1N1 vaccine to at-risk  adults under the age of 65.

If enough H1N1 vaccines arrive in time the county plans to offer the vaccine t at its’ regularly scheduled flu vaccine clinic on Dec. 10, Wills said.

Curry County has been lightly hit by the virus, with only three hospitalizations for H1N1, but  the national situation is more serious.

As of Nov. 14, 138 children have died of H1N1 in the U.S. since Sep. 1,  half-again more than the 85 children who typically die in an entire flu year.

Many of those children are those who suffer from asthma or have physical disabilities such as Down Syndrome, but some are otherwise healthy children.

In Oregon, 1,105 people have been hospitalized with influenza-like illness since Sept. 1; 40 have died.  

There are no open clinics planned for Curry County at this time.

All H1N1 vaccines  in Curry County are being distributed by the Curry County Public Health Department.

Public  health officials are urging local heath departments and tribes to target vaccine outreach to the  people who are at greatest risk for hospitalization and death:  

•Pregnant women;  

•Children younger than 5;  

•People age 5-64 with underlying health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes  or cardio-pulmonary disease.  

H1N1 is by far the dominant form of influenza seen this year.

“Over 99 percent of all sub-typed influenza A viruses being reported to CDC were 2009 influenza A (H1N1) viruses,” according to the CDC Web site at ww.cdc.gov.

The normal “flu season” begins in January, when health officials expect to see other types if influenza emerge.

H1N1 influenza is widespread in Region 10, which includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

Flu infections are currently on a downward trend according to CDC statistics, but there may be a resurgence of the virus when the flu season hits in January, said Wills.

School clinics

Brookings H1N1 vaccination clinics on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009:

•9:30 a.m. Brookings Harbor Christian School;

•10 a.m. Kalmiopsis Elementary School;

•11 a.m. Azalea Middle School;

•2 p.m. Brookings-Harbor High School.