Important Announcement from the Franklin County Board of Health Regarding H1N1 Vaccinations
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Contact : Mitzi Kline, Director of Communication
(614) 462-3028
mrkline@franklincountyohio.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY – H1N1 Clinic & Appointment System Announced
WHAT: H1N1 Vaccination Clinics – By Appointment Only
WHO: Franklin County Board of Health
WHEN: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 – by appointment only!
WHERE: Franklin County Board of Health
280 East Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215
10:00 a.m. – Noon and 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Parking is available at no cost. Enter the Memorial Hall parking lot off of Gay Street.
Schedule online at
www.columbuspandemicflu.org or call (614) 462-7463.
DETAILS: The Franklin County Board of Health is now offering H1N1 Vaccination clinics by appointment. The first clinic will be December 30th. Following that, in January we will offer clinics at fourteen senior center locations and eleven childhood immunization clinic locations. We will also offer the vaccine daily at our office clinic. The full calendar of all January clinics is available at www.columbuspandemicflu.org. Schedule appointments online at www.columbuspandemicflu.org or call (614) 462-7463.
The H1N1 vaccine is available to anyone who is interested in receiving it. You no longer need to be in one of the high risk groups to be eligible to be vaccinated. The vaccinations will be offered free of charge.
Wear short or loose sleeves and eat something before coming to a clinic.
No one with flu-like symptoms is able to be vaccinated and should not come to the clinic. All children 9 years of age and younger must receive a second dose of vaccine after 28 days to be fully protected. Other high risk individuals who have not received the H1N1 vaccine yet are still encouraged to get vaccinated.
MORE INFO: Visit Columbus Flu Info on Facebook and Twitter or visit our web site at
columbuspandemicflu.org for frequently updated H1N1 information and resources. Residents can also call 2-1-1 for information.
Important Announcement from the Franklin County Board of Health Regarding H1N1 Vaccinations
October 27, 2009
Dear Parent:
The Franklin County Board of Health has determined that it is necessary to delay the start of the school located H1N1 vaccination clinics. It was our sincere hope that vaccine would be readily available in the community at the time we planned to start the clinics the beginning of November. That is not the case. The shipment of H1N1 vaccinations from the manufacturers has slowed and we do not have the available supply to take care of all of the children in all of the schools at this time.
We had to make the difficult decision to delay the start of the school located clinics. Instead we had to break the high risk groups down into additional categories as recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (who provides guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). To date, we have been vaccinating pregnant women, caregivers of children under 6 months and health care providers. Next week we will expand to all young children between 6 months and 4 years of age. We will then expand the clinics to include children between 5 years of age and 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions. These clinics will be held throughout November in locations around the county and will NOT be held at the schools.
This was a FranklinCounty Board of Health decision based on vaccine availability and finding the best way to serve the highest number of people with the supplies we have. This was not a school district decision. The Franklin County Board of Health would like to thank the school districts for their willingness to letus use their facilities and for their assistance with communicating with you.
It is our hope that additional supplies of vaccine will continue to arrive in our community. School located clinics will still be planned in the future as long as the need exists and vaccine becomes available. In the meantime, you may be able to find it through other providers (such as health care providers and mass retail pharmacies) in the near future. We encourage you to watch www.columbuspandemicflu.org for clinic details as they are announced. You can also call 2-1-1.
We clearly understand your concern for your children and your strong desire to get them vaccinated against H1N1. Please know the public health system is working as diligently and as quickly as possible to do that. Our goal is to vaccinate everyone in a high risk category as quickly as we can but we simply do not have the supplies and ability to do that at this time. We encourage you to continue to urge your children to cover their cough, wash their hands and most importantly keep them home when they are sick. These simple steps will help slow the spread of H1N1 in the community. Finally, you may be hearing that other counties have been able to start school located clinics; they simply have a smaller population to serve which requires less vaccine.
We thank you in advance your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Susan A. Tilgner,
FranklinCounty Health Commissioner
School nurses and other Westerville City School District employees have been working with the Franklin and Delaware Counties’ health departments, as well as monitoring information from the Ohio Department of Education and Centers for Disease Control and prevention, with regard to the H1N1 Flu.
Symptoms of H1N1 Flu are similar to seasonal flu and may include fever or chills; cough, runny nose and sore throat; fatigue, body aches and headaches. Some people may experience nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It is imperative that students and staff who are ill stay home from school.
Hand washing remains the first defense against the spread of the flu and many other infectious diseases. Frequent and thorough hand washing is important – our staff will continue to remind students to wash their hands and reinforce other general personal hygiene measures for staying healthy. Adults and children should also cover their nose and mouth with a tissue or sleeve during coughing and sneezing. Used tissues should be discarded immediately. Most importantly, avoid contact with persons who are ill.
The Westerville City Schools custodial staff will continue its routine practice of disinfecting and cleaning our schools. Our school buildings are cleaned daily to help prevent the spread of disease and common ailments such as the flu, and we use cleaning products that are proven to kill viral and bacterial strains of various diseases.
District officials will continue to work with health authorities regarding this matter. The district’s crisis plan is up-to-date and reflects the most current and effective management practices in the event of a widespread outbreak. Our goal is to maintain safe and healthy school communities. We encourage families to become familiar with the possible signs of the flu and to seek immediate medical attention if anyone begins exhibiting any of these symptoms.
Families are urged to contact their child’s principal or school nurse as soon as they become aware of any physician confirmed contagious infection so the school can take the appropriate preventative measures.
There is a wealth of information available to the public at www.odh.ohio.gov and
www.cdc.gov/H1N1FLU. In addition, the Ohio Department of Health has an information line that currently is being answered by a live person who can help callers with questions. The Ohio H1N1 Information line is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please call 1-866-800-1404 for answers to your questions about the H1N1 flu strain.
September 15, 2009
UPDATED HEALTH INFORMATION FROM SCHOOL NURSES
The Westerville City School District, as part of its effort to maintain healthy learning and working environments, regularly monitors student and staff absences due to illness. To date we have experienced a student absence rate that is slightly higher than we have experienced in past years at this time. Though some of these absences are documented as being caused by the flu or flu-like symptoms, the Board of Health has not identified or reported to us any confirmed cases of H1N1 in our student or staff population.
The medical community continues to adjust its practices regarding H1N1. Because we have not yet entered the traditional “cold and flu” season, and because the symptoms of H1N1 Flu are similar to seasonal flu, medical professionals are telling those with diagnosed cases of the flu that they may have the H1N1 strain. However, doctors are not conducting the full battery of tests to confirm H1N1 except in the most extreme cases. As a result, the medical community recently began using the designation of “Influenza-Like Illness” to categorize some of the conditions they are seeing.
Given these developments, please understand that the Westerville City School District will not document any reported case of the flu as being the H1N1 strain unless it is confirmed by, and we are notified by, either the Franklin or Delaware County Board of Health. We continue to work closely with these agencies, as well as to monitor information from the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Education and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regarding the most recent developments pertaining to this matter.
Families are urged to contact their child’s principal or school nurse as soon as they become aware of any physician-confirmed contagious infection so the school can take the appropriate preventative measures.