The Clackamas County Health Department has scheduled an H1N1 flu vaccination clinic for Boeckman Creek and Boones Ferry students and their siblings.
The clinics are free and will be held from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.Monday, Nov. 23, at Boones Ferry Primary School, 11495 S.W. Wilsonville Road, and Boeckman Creek Primary School, 6600 S.W. Wilsonville Road.
The county health department is prioritizing the distribution of vaccine to primary school-aged students. Local schools are awaiting confirmation of additional clinics. Those dates will be announced as soon as the county can confirm vaccine availability.
Distric
t officials saw clinic dates in October and earlier this month nixed by a lack of vaccine, despite the fact school-aged children are one of the highest-priority categories for vaccination against the H1N1 strain of influenza.
“They (the county) are shifting plans almost daily,” West Linn-Wilsonville assistant superintendent Thayne Balzar told the West Linn-Wilsonville School Board at a meeting earlier this month. “Schools are still a priority, but they’re really struggling with that.”
Over 50 people have been hired by the county to help administer planned vaccination clinics in Wilsonville and at other locations in Clackamas County.
Part of the problem in planning, Balzar said, has been the need for the county to be able to hold clinics for all public schools at the same time.
“It’s all going to happen at once,” he told the board. “To not do so would be an obvious political nightmare.”
In the meantime, school officials are urging those who are unable to attend the Nov. 23 clinic to seek vaccination from their own health care providers.
So far this year, local schools have been closely tracking student absences and patterns in order to snuff out the spread of disease. According to Balzar, none of the district’s 14 schools have had absence rates top 20 percent “for any length of time" this year.
By contrast, an average school day, he said, will have around five percent of the student body absent.
“I think that is significantly more than on some days,” he said.
Parents or guardians must come with children on Nov. 23, and a completed vaccination release form also will be needed. Forms are available at each school and online at each school’s Web page or at the West Linn-Wilsonville School District Web page: www.wlwv.k12.or.us.
Details: District Administration, 503-673-7000.