H1N1 flu shot clinic for children planned

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An H1N1 flu vaccination clinic will be held for children 6 months through 4 years of age from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at Central Valley Health District, 122 Second St. N.W.

The clinic is free of charge and no appointments are necessary but the vaccine will be dispensed on a first-come, first-served basis, according to Robin Iszler, administrator at the CVHD.

“We expect continued shipments and more clinics as time goes on,” she said. “But this one is limited to young children.”

The clinic comes at a time when cases of influenza are increasing.

“The statewide count has doubled in the last week,” Iszler said. “They are not lab testing people to determine the type of flu anymore but people may receive rapid tests.”

Clinics in Jamestown are seeing a lot of cases as well.

“We’ve been really busy,” said Jon Lillejord, clinic manager at Medcenter One. “We are seeing a lot of people of all ages with flu symptoms.”

Medcenter One is out of the seasonal flu vaccine and referring people interested in the H1N1 flu (also known as swine flu) vaccine to the CVHD.

And while clinics are still seeing a high volume of patients, the schools are seeing less absenteeism credited to flu symptoms.

“The numbers of absences were down to about 20 to 25 students absent at the middle school earlier this week,” said a spokesman at the middle school. “That is much better compared to about three weeks ago when it peaked at about 95 students absent.”

There were no classes Thursday or Friday for the statewide teacher’s conference.

The swine flu vaccine clinic Monday is limited to healthy children ages 6 months to 4 years from Logan and Stutsman counties. Parents of children in other counties are asked to contact the public health organization in their county for flu vaccine clinic information. Children who have had a laboratory confirmed diagnosis of H1N1 flu are not to be vaccinated. Children who have had other types of flu, or are suspected of having the H1N1 flu but were not tested, are urged to have the vaccination.

There is no cost for the vaccination.

“We do ask the number of people coming to the clinic for the vaccination be limited to the child and one parent,” Iszler said. “We just don’t have the capacity for a lot of people in the clinic.”

The Central Valley Health District anticipates the next swine flu clinic will be for pregnant women followed by a clinic for children under the age of 18 with chronic health problems. Swine flu vaccination clinics for the general public will be held after all high priority population groups are vaccinated.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at (701) 952-8452

or by e-mail at knorman@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, swine, flu, vaccine, shot, children