H1N1 Vaccinations Starting for NYC Students

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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Health topics and the occasional health scare are no strangers to New York parents. NYC students, hit hard by the H1N1 flu last year, were at the forefront of a vaccination effort this year in order to reduce the number of children and families getting sick. The focus on the H1N1 flu has taken the focus slightly off the regular flu season and flu vaccination, however, and some families have not gotten their regular flu shot, thinking they have no need for it.

There are plenty of germs and viruses to go around, however, and not all of them the flu or the common cold.

The NY Daily News reported on a recent outbreak of mumps in Brooklyn:

City health officials warned Thursday of an outbreak of the old-fashioned childhood disease mumps in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.
City health officials say there are 57 confirmed or probable cases and they are investigating more. Those infected are mostly between 10 and 15 years old.
“We know that approximately one in every 20 people who are vaccinated may not develop antibodies,” said Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner of immunization. “If the vaccine was not effective we would have many, many more cases. ”
Typically, it causes a painful swelling of the salivary glands. In rarer cases, patients can be rendered deaf.
It spreads through coughs and sneezes, and a person becomes ill about two weeks after exposure.

Make sure your NYC student is vaccinated appropriately and take special care of your family’s health.

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Vaccination