Michael Tannebaum

Eagle Nest Elementary fifth-grader Julia Robinson receives the H1N1 vaccination from registered nurse Buffy Mack.

Michael Tannebaum

Registered nurse Nancy Drenga administers the H1N1 vaccination to Eagle Nest Elementary fifth-grader Tara Beckner.

For the first time in decades, mass vaccinations are taking place in schools nationwide and on Monday the immunization efforts began in Dorchester District 2.

About half of Eagle Nest Elementary School’s 814 students received the H1N1 vaccination Nov. 16, which kicked off what may be a seven-week effort by local health officials to reach students in every Dorchester 2 school.

Tentatively scheduled to conclude Jan. 7 at Fort Dorchester High School, vaccination clinics will be set up at each Dorchester 2 school to immunize students as well as school faculty and staff against H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu.

At Eagle Nest, the clinic was held in the media center and included four stations at which registered nurses with the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) administered immunizations to students whose parents returned consent forms authorizing their child to be vaccinated.

School officials had requested that consent forms be returned no later than Nov. 12 so they could provide DHEC with an estimate of how many doses of the vaccine to bring, but children who returned their forms Monday were not turned away, said Eagle Nest Principal Karen Spillane.

In addition to the 400 or so students that received the vaccine, more than 40 faculty and staff also opted to get the shot.

School administrators and staff were on hand to comfort students, many of whom were given stuffed animals and toys to hold while they received the shot and candy afterwards as a reward. After receiving the vaccine, children went to a nearby room where they watched a movie for 15 minutes so health officials could monitor them.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends that children receive two doses of the H1N1 vaccine separated by at least a few weeks. On the consent form, parents were asked if their child had already received one dose of the H1N1 vaccination and if so what date it was administered. If more than 28 days had passed since the child received the first dose, he or she was eligible to receive the second, said Marsha Glatt, the H1N1 vaccination program coordinator for DHEC who was present at Eagle Nest.

Like Eagle Nest, most clinics in Dorchester 2 schools will be held in each school’s respective media center. DHEC randomly assigned each school a day on which the vaccines will be administered, but made the decision to start with elementary schools.

H1N1 vaccine shipments are being received weekly, but it is unknown how many parents will elect to have their children vaccinated in the schools, said Linda Pranger, spokesperson for Region 7 DHEC, which covers Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.

Last Thursday, vaccinations began in Dorchester District 4 schools. Fifty-one percent of students at Williams Memorial Elementary were vaccinated, as were 39 percent of students at Harleyville-Ridgeville Elementary, according to Pranger.

“Administering vaccinations in schools hasn’t been done in so long so we don’t know what the norm (for each school) will be,” said Pranger, who added she expects it to be around 50 percent nationally.

Although just a few days into what will be a long process, Pranger said, “From the reports we’ve received so far, everything is going much smoother than we could have anticipated.”

Contact Michael Tannebaum at 873-9424 ext. 215 or mtannebaum@journalscene.com

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