If you have been wondering where your New York Student’s H1N1 vaccine has been, there are some answers coming out. The New York Times reported on the reasons for the shortfall in vaccination clinics for NYC students, citing sources from the CDC.
The C.D.C. said that the shortfall resulted from delays in the painstaking process of manufacturing and testing the vaccine. The time period in which to grow the vaccine was compressed, because the virus first appeared in the United States in April, much later than seasonal flu. That problem was compounded when the early seed strains of virus used to produce the vaccine grew more slowly than anticipated.
New York City has seen very little swine flu activity this fall, after being perhaps the worst-hit city in the nation when the virus appeared last spring, Dr. Farley said. Immunologists attribute the absence of flu activity to immunity built up in a large portion of the city’s population.
But Dr. Farley said that even New Yorkers who thought they had been infected with swine flu in the spring should get the vaccine, because absent testing, they may have actually had some other type of respiratory illness, and because “the vaccine does no harm.”
The flu vaccine is being sent out to schools in a particular order. Right now the smaller public schools are included in the first wave. Both public schools and Private schools in NYC are included in the vaccination initiative.
If you are wondering when your child’s school may be scheduled for vaccination against H1N1, please refer to the NYC Vaccination Schedule to find your child’s school and the scheduled date.
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