Schools Ready for Flu Season, H1N1
September 23, 2010 by Cynthia McCabe
Filed under Featured News, Health, NEA, Top Stories
By Meredith Barnett
Sneezes and sniffles are starting to infiltrate classrooms and flu season is on its way. But schools and health organizations, armed with lessons learned from 2009’s pandemic flu outbreak, are preparing early.
This year, H1N1 poses less of a threat, and schools are better equipped to hold vaccination clinics and continue “sickness etiquette” education with students.
One major change from 2009 to this year is that the seasonal flu vaccine now protects against both seasonal flu and H1N1.
“H1N1 is still an issue, it’s still around but not at pandemic levels anymore,” said Edeanna Chebbi, Program Coordinator for Disease Prevention and Management at NEA’s Health Information Network (HIN).
She stressed the importance of vaccination, and the Center for Disease Control recommends everyone ages six months and older receive either the injected or nasal spray vaccine before flu season’s peak in January and February. Children under five are most vulnerable, and flu spreads rapidly in schools, with the close proximity of students and their tendency to have trouble controlling their germ-spraying sneezes.
Many schools are continuing the practices they initiated while weathering last year’s H1N1 storm, including offering school-located vaccination clinics. Health organizations are encouraging the extended use