Smithfield schools set flu clinic schedules

SMITHFIELD - Free student immunizations for swine flu that will continue locally through Dec. 7 began Monday, Nov. 2, at the Old County Road elementary school and continued Tuesday at the Anna McCabe elementary school and yesterday at the William Winsor elementary school.

The schedule calls for clinics Nov. 9 at the Gallagher Middle School, Nov. 13 at the Raymond LaPerche elementary school and Dec. 4 at Smithfield High School.

Masters Regional Academy, the junior-senior high operated by the New Life Worship Center, will hold its clinic Dec. 2, and the St. Philip School Dec. 7.

School Superintendent Robert O'Brien said elementary-level clinics are being held from 4 to 8 p.m. and that pupils can get their immunizations only at the school they attend and only if parents have signed permission slips. Parents must accompany children.

Clinics at the middle and high schools will be held during school hours, O'Brien said, but students whose parents have not returned forms will not be immunized.

The superintendent said that only a few district parents have refused to give permission and that the district had received only a few complaints from parents who want their children immunized more quickly than the schedule permits.

He said the decision on setting dates for the various clinics was made by the state.

As of early this week, O'Brien said, absenteeism throughout the district had not exceeded levels considered normal for this time of year, but that attendance was being closely monitored.

He said administrators watch especially for "clusters" of absentees - four or more in a classroom of 25 - that might indicate the spread of illness. He said the few clusters so far identified were at the elementary level.

O'Brien said that while the district does not have specific information on the number of swine flu cases that might exist, attendance figures so far are "not even close" to suggesting a cause for alarm.

He said parents are being advised to reinforce common sense rules to help prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, such as keeping ill children home and encouraging them to cover coughs and wash their hands frequently.

School vaccination schedules were randomly selected by the state through a computer program. The state Health Department advised parents that for students who do not get immunized at their school clinics, vaccine will likely not be available in doctors' offices or other clinics until late December.