DHEC takes H1N1 vaccine to schools

DORCHESTER -- As the news spread that H1N1 flu shots were coming to Harleyville-Ridgeville Elementary School this week, first-grade teacher Rendy Yates fielded the same question the last few mornings.

"'Is it today?' No. 'Is it today?' No. 'Is it today?' Yes ... 'Uh oh.'"

One-by-one Thursday, students rolled through the first of many long-anticipated school vaccination clinics held by the state health department during a week when federal official revised estimates on the severity of the H1N1 strain.

Staffers with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Thursday held an immunization clinic, the first of dozens that will be held over the next two months. They visited Harleyville-Ridgeville and Williams Memorial Elementary in St. George, both in Dorchester County School District 4.

Giving flu shots in schools is not common, but with H1N1 hitting children and young adults harder than seasonal flu, the health department is offering vaccinations as a way to head off a devastating spike during the peak of flu season in the Palmetto State this winter.

"This is the biggest way to reach those kids," said local health department spokeswoman Linda Pranger. "While we won't get all of the children (vaccinated), we hope to get large numbers ... We want to work with the schools so we can keep the schools open."

Meanwhile, evidence that swine flu may be a bigger menace may have grown stronger this week as epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control are considering revising estimates, from 1,200 to 4,000, on the number of deaths caused by H1N1 since April. The change accounts not only for laboratory-confirmed cases of flu but deaths that appear to be caused by the flu.

The new estimate, however, will not be released until next week because CDC consultants are still looking over the figures, according agency spokesman Glen Nowak.

Despite government warnings, studies and estimates about H1N1, the public remains divided on taking the vaccine.

If the numbers at Williams and Harleyville-Ridgeville on Thursday are any indication, significant numbers of parents harbor continued doubt and apprehension about the vaccine. At Williams, about 350 of 590 eligible students (not including pre-kindergarten) and 50 faculty members received the H1N1 vaccine. At Harleyville-Ridgeville, 175 of 400 students and 55 staff members got shots.

The health department asked parents not to be at the school during the clinics, but the contrasting views on the vaccine were reflected among some staff.

Elizabeth Furmanek, a contract speech pathologist at Harleyville-Ridgeville, took the shot even though she likely recovered from the flu a week ago. The 50-year-old Goose Creek resident suffered with nearly all the symptoms -- high fever, sore throat, cough, congestion, body aches and fatigue -- for two weeks.

"I couldn't even get out of bed," Furmanek said.

While she may have immunity now, she took the H1N1 vaccine just in case she didn't have swine flu and because she wanted to serve as a role model to others who remain anxious about it.

But Furmanek didn't convince first-grade teacher Rendy Yates, whose concerns reflected those of other adults opting not to get vaccinated.

"One thing, I don't like shots, period," said the 44-year-old Yates. "Another thing, I just don't know if there's been enough research and testing on the flu shot. I just want it to play out and see what happens. I've never had the flu and I've never had a flu shot. I try to exercise and do things like that so that I don't have to get the shots."

Some of her apprehension, she said, stems from TV shows with segments on rare individuals who get the vaccine and develop Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder triggered by an acute infectious process.

Of Yates' nearly 20 students, she said only four or five were getting the vaccine and that one mother has come in every day making sure her child does not.

By now, Pranger and other health officials are well aware of misconceptions about the H1N1 vaccine, but like many health professionals, they can only underscore that the vaccine is made and has been tested just like seasonal flu vaccine.

"The only thing that is different is that it (H1N1) is a different strain," Pranger said. "If it had showed up six months earlier, it would have been part of the seasonal flu vaccine. But because it showed up in late spring, it had part of its own production run and was given as a separate vaccine."