October 29, 2009

Hi families of Chief Sealth students,

In the Teen Health Center we have been getting lots of questions about the seasonal and H1N1 (swine) flu vaccines and thought I would send out an email to try to clarify things. We currently have the seasonal flu vaccine and are awaiting our supply of H1N1 vaccine. There have been multiple delays from the manufacturer which has caused quite a bit of uncertainty about when the vaccine will actually be available. We are expecting to receive small amounts of the vaccine at a time and suspect that some should be arriving within the next week. We will not be able to vaccinate everyone initially due to this limited supply. We plan to vaccinate students who have underlying chronic health conditions first who are at higher risk for complications from the flu (asthma, diabetes, kidney problems, obesity). Eventually we expect to be able to provide immunizations to all students once we receive additional supply of the vaccine.

There are two types of H1N1 and seasonal flu. One is the traditional shot which can be given to anyone. We also expect to receive flu mist which is a live attenuated vaccine and given in the nose. This cannot be given to children who have underlying medical problems such as diabetes, asthma, lung disease, heart disease, anemia, kidney or liver disease.

There is a small amount of thimerisol in both the seasonal flu and H1N1 injectible vaccines. This amount is very small and has been contained in the influenza vaccine for many years. Please click below for additional information.

http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/documents/samplenotice.pdf