COVINGTON, Ky. – Many Northern Kentucky parents will soon receive information about swine flu immunizations in their child’s school.
Staff from the Northern Kentucky Health Department will be administering the swine flu vaccination to students and staff in local schools starting on Monday, Nov. 30, at Holmes High School, 25th and Madison in Covington.
"The swine flu vaccination effort is bigger than any we’ve seen before," said Steven R. Katkowsky, M.D., District Director of Health.
"In trying to vaccinate as many people as possible, partnering with schools was a logical choice. School children are more likely to become infected with the swine flu and are at higher risk for complications. By vaccinating children in the schools, we can hopefully provide much-needed protection for a serious illness."
All school districts in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties were invited to participate in the vaccination effort. The Health Department is providing packets, including information and consent forms, to the schools to distribute to parents. Only students who have signed consent forms will be given the vaccine.
"During this time of community need, it seems all school districts, including the Diocese of Covington schools, are glad to assist in keeping our children healthy," said Mike Clines, Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Covington. "Swine flu vaccination is an opportunity for us to make it easy for those families who wish to have their children vaccinated to do so."
During the school-vaccination effort starting Nov. 30, services at the Health Department’s four county health centers will be adjusted to allow staff to give the school vaccinations.
The following services will be maintained:
The hours for the health centers were also shortened during the swine flu response, with centers open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. only through Jan. 22.
Health Department staff is contacting those clients—more than 2,000 each week—whose appointments will need to be rescheduled because of the swine flu response.
The health center locations affected are:
"When determining how to staff the huge swine flu immunization efforts, we found that it was impossible to maintain all Health Department services in addition to the vaccinations," said Jennifer Hunter, R.N., B.S.N., Director of Clinical Services. "While we understand that the limited services at our health centers will be an inconvenience to many, the changes are temporary and we hope to return to our typical operations as soon as possible."
For more information on the Health Department’s swine flu response,
visit http://www.nkyhealth.org/ or call the flu information line at (859) 392-0678.
