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Update: Health dept. urges H1N1 vaccine, even if your kid already was sick

WBIR.com

Updated: 11/4/2009 4:06:08 PM

Posted: 11/2/2009 12:00:06 PM

Due to the difficulty of being certain a child's prior illness was actually H1N1, the health department is recommending that even children whose parents believe they've already had the illness get the vaccine.

"Unless their child had a test that was done by a specialty lab, sent off, and comes back in a week--they don't know for sure they had h1n1. There are other things that can make people sick with fever and respiratory symptons. So go ahead and get them vaccinated--better to be safe than sorry and protect those kids from getting sick," said Dr. Martha Buchanan, chief medical officer for the Knox County Health Department.

Believing a child already had the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, is just one reason health officials believe they are seeing some parents opt out of in-school vaccinations this week.

Some parents simply don't want their children to have the H1N1 vaccine.
Other parents have already made use of H1N1 vaccination clinics outside the schools in Knox County.
And some parents think their child already had the swine flu.

So far, the health department is seeing lower numbers of students getting the H1N1 vaccine in schools than the seasonal flu vaccines earlier this year.

The health department will not vaccinate a child without a signed permission slip from the student's parent.

At West Hills Elementary on Wednesday, 277 children had returned the parental consent form and got the H1N1 vaccination.

But when the health department offered seasonal flu vaccinations at West Hills, 367 students returned the parental consent form to get the vaccination.

The health department vaccinated students at 7 schools on Wednesday and plans to vaccinate students at a total of 20 schools by the end of the week. The department has a total of 3,300 doses to administer; as more supply comes in, they'll schedule additional clinics at public schools, daycares, and private schools.

Schedule for vaccination clinics