The Lowndes County School District has decided not to complete its first round of H1N1 flu vaccine injections.
After nine Caledonia High School students were taken to the emergency room Nov. 4 for adverse reactions to the vaccine, LCSD Superintendent Mike Halford said Thursday, students who did not receive the first round of injections would not receive the vaccine at school.
“We’re not going to finish the schools. There were too much problems we had on that part. The liability part,” said Halford.
Caledonia Elementary and Middle schools, West Lowndes Elementary and Middle schools and New Hope kindergarten through third-graders did not receive the vaccine before injections — which were administered by Mississippi University for Women nursing students through a partnership with the Mississippi State Department of Health — were halted after students complained of symptoms including shortness of breath, hives and fever.
The LCSD had intended to continue with the injections, but Halford said school officials experienced difficulty validating signatures on parental permission slips.
The district was not threatened with legal action following the student reactions.
Surrounding school districts intend to continue facilitating the vaccinations as planned. Columbus, West Point, Starkville and Oktibbeha County school districts will allow the vaccines to be administered on school grounds by MSDH officials or local medical professionals partnering with the agency.
All vaccinations are voluntary and require a permission slip signed by a parent or guardian. Parents are encouraged to accompany their children during the injections.
Columbus schools already have completed their first round of vaccinations. Students 9 years old and younger who require a follow-up booster will receive those injections over the next two weeks.
Students at Franklin Elementary Medical Sciences and Wellness Magnet School received the boosters Thursday, while students at Stokes-Beard Elementary Technology and Communication Magnet School will receive them today. At Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School, the boosters will be administered on Dec. 9; and Fairview Aerospace and Science Magnet School’s boosters will be administered Dec. 14.
Starkville School District partnered with Oktibbeha County Hospital and MSDH Thursday to administer vaccinations to students at Sudduth Elementary (400 of 1,100 students), Overstreet Elementary (115 of 300 students) and Armstrong Middle School (56 of 600 students).
Students at Ward-Stewart Elementary and Henderson Intermediate will receive vaccinations today with Starkville High School to follow Dec. 7.
Students requiring the follow-up injection will receive it in January.
SSD Superintendent Judy Couey said no parents have called the district to voice concerns about the vaccinations.
Steve Montgomery, superintendent of West Point School District, also has heard no complaints or concerns from parents. Still, WPSD will host vaccinations at just two of its eight schools. The remaining vaccinations will be available at the West Point Health Department.
“I offered (MSDH) any school building they wanted,” said Montgomery. They said they wanted to do that at the health department.”
MSDH nurses will be in West Point Dec. 14 to administer the first round of vaccinations to students in grades five-12, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten at the Clay County Health Department from 3-7 p.m.
Nurses from Coggins Family Medical Clinic will administer the vaccines at Church Hill Elementary and Southside Elementary schools.
Oktibbeha County School District will complete vaccinations today after beginning Thursday. MSDH nurses visited the district’s four schools to administer the shots.
East Oktibbeha High School (27 of 230 students), West Oktibbeha High (28 of 140 students) and West Oktibbeha Elementary (48 of 210 students) received vaccinations Thursday. East Oktibbeha Elementary (110 of 340 students) will receive vaccinations today.
Risks from the inactivated H1N1 vaccine are similar to those from the seasonal flu vaccine: soreness, redness, tenderness or swelling at the injection site, fainting, headache, muscle aches, fever or nausea. Life-threatening reactions to vaccines are rare.
As with the seasonal flu vaccine, those with allergies to eggs should not get the H1N1 vaccine.
Symptoms of swine flu also are similar to those of seasonal flu, according to the MSDH -- fever, respiratory symptoms and body aches. H1N1 swine flu has contributed to a number of deaths in Mississippi, principally in those with pre-existing health conditions; 1,272 cases of H1N1 swine flu have been confirmed across the state since May 15. MSDH advises protective hygene to avoid illness.
My family got the H1N1 vaccine with no problems including my college age son and high school daughter. My daughter received hers at school. Thanks to Mr Halford and all others involved in providing the convenience of a voluntary vaccination at school.
You cannot be certain of any such thing. Such a comment is as preposterous as me claiming your different tune should an H1N1 outbreak kill 500 Lowndes County students! You really should have more respect for those whose opinions differ from yours.
The schools merely provided a VOLUNTARY mechanism for vaccination in cooperation with public health efforts by the public health authorities. Parents had to do as I did and SIGN for their child to receive the vaccine.
To drive voluntary public health vaccination programs completely out of our public schools does the public a major disservice in my opinion.
Surely you know that for any vaccination program, even voluntary, that informed consent must be obtained before administering an experimental substance.
I'm also sure you are aware of this from Novartis:
"Novartis Influenza A(H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccine was approved by the FDA on September 15, 2009. The A(H1N1) vaccine is an inactivated subunit vaccine approved for active immunization of persons 4 years of age and older, including patients with underlying chronic medical conditions. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded Novartis two contracts totaling USD 979 million for purchase of H1N1 bulk vaccine and the Novartis proprietary MF59 adjuvant."
I do not believe all vaccines are bad; I think vaccines with experimental substances slipped into them can be bad.
Novartis has two H1N1 vaccines, Fluvarin (no adjuvant) and Focetria (MF59 adjuvant). I'd like someone to certify which was used, and where, so we can match reactions.
Yes, most reactions to MF59 are delayed autoimmune disasters, but immediate reactions are also possible.
I also presume you know the military anthrax program appears to have been a vaccine dose range study with MF59, and I assure you there were delayed effects from that. The military swore repeatedly there was no squalene (MF59) in the anthrax shots, but the FDA found it in 10% of the vaccine lot numbers, despite these assurances.
If they have the nerve to do it to our front line troops, I presume they could slip it to our school kids as well. The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from Oct 23rd would make use of experimental substances legal, although they have not had to explain that to anyone, yet.
Also, curiously, I wonder why HHS paid almost a billion dollars to Novartis for MF59 flu vaccine that they do not plan on using?
Finally, something happened at Caledonia. We owe it to our kids to find out what.
The nasal spray has live virus that can/does cause the flu. It is a medical fact- in fact the label says to stay away from healthy people for 21 days after the shot!! So, fever and other symptoms are to be expected in greater frequency than the regular flu shot. For those who are unaware of the significant neurological damage caused by the adjuvants watch this by Dr. Chris Shaw, a PhD neuroscientist of the University of British Columbia and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJD69mH7gpU&feature=PlayList&p=6FFB11BDCEB3680E&index=0&playnext=1
It appears Bruce Fisher is either confused or trying to be misleading. The nasal spray is not a 'shot' and it was not the nasal spray which was offered in the VOLUNTARY public health vaccination program in the schools. If you choose to believe in the vaccine resistance movement you are certainly free to do so and you are also free to deny your dependents the vaccine. The program was VOLUNTARY. Regardless of our own individual analysis of the risk to benefit ratio with the vaccine, the program was VOLUNTARY. Please explain why you cannot tolerate a VOLUNTARY vaccination program in the public schools.
Surely you know the CDC says there are no adjuvants (such as squalene, MF59, etc) in either the 2009 H1N1 or seasonal flu shot used in the United States. http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/vaccination/pregnant_qa.htm
Surely you know the concern with adjuvants, including MF59, is not immediate time frame reactions (the type at Caledonia). Surely you know Novartis vaccines with MF59 have been given in Europe in excess of 20 million doses with no increase in rates of vaccine related problems, though long term concerns continue to be studied.
You are welcome to believe all vaccines are bad medicines, but why would you deny the general public a VOLUNTARY vaccination program in the public schools? As I stated before, regardless of our individual assessments of the H1N1 vaccine risk to benefit analysis, why are you pleased with denying our freedom to choose to participate in a VOLUNTARY public school vaccination program?
You are welcome to believe whatever conspiracy theories you choose. About 30,000 people in the US die with flu related illness each year. About 92% of children who died with flu related illness in the 07-08 time frame (pre-H1N1) were not vaccinated. The H1N1 appears to hit the youngsters harder than us oldsters. Yet you are pleased with driving a VOLUNTARY public health vaccination program out of the Lowndes County Schools! WHY?
The students can get their shot elsewhere, the schools were merely a convenient venue, yet something bad happened at Caledonia. I suspect inadequate control over the process that allowed the adjuvant-spiked Focetria vaccine from Novartis to be used without informed consent.
If nothing unfortunate had occurred at Caledonia, you'd be justified pontificating from your high horse, but something did, and that doesn't seem to concern you.
And following questions remain unanswered. Why are you pleased with driving a VOLUNTARY public health vaccination program out of the Lowndes County Schools? Why are you pleased with making it more difficult for those who want to receive the vaccine?
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