Schools prepare for flu

Health officials may return to that method of mass inoculation in an effort to contain the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus this fall. Inoculation plans are already in process in Natick, Acton, Newton, Framingham, and Hudson.

The 5-to-24-year-old age group was hardest hit when the virus, sometimes called the swine flu, arrived in the United States this spring. According to the state Department of Public Health, the median age of those infected was 14.

State and federal health experts agree preventive measures, such as frequent hand-washing and proper “cough etiquette,’’ are helpful. But the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recently concluded that H1N1 would be most effectively contained by “vaccinating as many people as possible as quickly as possible.’’

The H1N1 strain has characteristics that resemble the typical seasonal flu: fever, cough, runny nose, and body aches. However, the President’s Council of Ad visors on Science and Technology estimates the new, more powerful strain could cause as many as 90,000 deaths in the United States this flu season, roughly 2.5 times the average toll. As of last month, Massachusetts had recorded more than 1,400 confirmed cases and 11 deaths.

Several area school districts have contacted state health officials to discuss inoculating children, either during regular school hours or at school-based clinics set at other times.

Natick and Acton have aggressive plans in place to inoculate children against H1N1 during the school day at every grade level. Newton will offer seasonal flu vaccine mist to middle and high school students, and health officials hope to repeat the process when the H1N1 vaccine becomes available, expected to be next month or early November. After-school clinics are being planned for elementary school students and family members.

Framingham and Hudson will offer several Saturday flu clinics, and strongly urge parents to bring their children. Waltham, meanwhile, is still mulling whether to provide seasonal flu shots for its schoolchildren, and taking a “wait and see’’ approach on H1N1.

Permission slips have already gone home in Natick for a dose of seasonal flu vaccine to be given during school to high school students.

“We’ll also have some family clinics for seasonal flu, if the vaccine is available,’’ school nurse leader Karen Rufo said. “For H1N1, we will inoculate at all eight schools and every grade level, with the parents’ permission. Since two doses of that will be needed, it’s going to be a challenge.’’

Doug Halley, Acton’s health director, said seasonal flu vaccines will be distributed as they always have been. The focus will shift to students when H1N1 vaccine arrives.

“Based on the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control, we’re feeling the entire school population will be our target, depending on the amount of vaccine we get,’’ Halley said. “We’re looking to get all the parental permissions done ahead of time, and vaccinate students during the school day.’’

Wendy Doremus, director of health and nursing for Hudson’s schools, said students will be encouraged to get the seasonal flu shot, but the real emphasis will be on H1N1 inoculations, set to be offered at Saturday clinics at the local high school.

“We’ll be disseminating as much information as we can,’’ Doremus said. “The schools will be the conduit for getting the information out, and we won’t need to make up permission slips because their parents will be with them.’’

Susan Getgood, a member of the Hudson Education Foundation’s board of directors, has a son in the fourth grade.

“We already get him a seasonal flu shot anyway, and we will get him the H1N1, too,’’ Getgood said. She believes concern is running high among parents statewide. “Anything state health officials and the local schools can do to address that concern is great,’’ she said.

Newton’s public health program specialist, Teresa Wood Kett, said middle and high school students will get the seasonal flu mist this fall.

“With H1N1, we’re looking at doing the high school and middle school during school, but we aren’t sure how much vaccine we’ll get,’’ Kett said. “We would then schedule after-school clinics for elementary students and their families, and for kids in private schools.’’

Newton parent Phyllis Attisano is making her own plans to have her sixth- and eighth-grade children inoculated for H1N1.

“I’ll take them to the pediatrician to get the shot, just as a comfort thing,’’ Attisano said. “It’s not that I have anything against the way the school would administer the vaccine.’’

Kitty Mahoney, chief public health nurse for Framingham, said nearly a third of the residents in her community don’t have family doctors.

“Our goal will be to vaccinate as many schoolchildren as we can,’’ Mahoney said. “We’ll run Saturday clinics for as long as the supply of vaccine lasts, and it’s supposed to be ample.’’ Seasonal flu vaccine will be available initially, and H1N1 inoculations will be added when supplies arrive. The Saturday clinics will be set up at schools on both sides of town, she said

Jennifer Manley, a state Department of Public Health spokeswoman, said her agency is providing information to school systems on flu symptoms, guidelines for care, and requirements for allowing children back at school.

“The guideline is that when they come back, they will have been fever-free for 24 hours without the help of any fever reducers,’’ Manley said. “We’ll be depending on parents.’’

For information on the H1N1 virus, go to www.mass.gov/dph or www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu. Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com