November 9, 2009

Dear Parent/Guardian:

The Local Health Department is working with Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School to hold a Seasonal Flu Vaccination Clinic at the school. This Seasonal Flu Vaccination Clinic is scheduled for Tuesday, November 24, 2009 from 9:00am until the close of school. The clinic will be held at the school. I want to be perfectly clear that this is NOT the vaccine for the H1N1 flu and that this vaccine is only protection from the seasonal flu. The vaccine is available at no cost to students and only Old Colony students are eligible to receive it. This is a voluntary program, but is recommended by the CDC. There are two types of vaccines for seasonal flu: the flu shot and the nasal-spray. This vaccine will be administered through a nasal-spray for the clinic being held at Old Colony. The nasal-spray flu vaccine is only for healthy people age 2 – 49 years of age and who are not pregnant.

People who should not be vaccinated include:

• People who have a severe allergy to chicken eggs
• People who have had a severe reaction to an influenza vaccination in the past
• People who have had Guillain-Barre syndrome should talk to their doctor or nurse
• Children less that six months of age
• People who are sick with a fever (these people can get vaccinated once their symptoms resolve
• People with long-term health problems, with weakened immune systems, asthma, heart, lung, liver, kidney or metabolic disease or blood disorders (e.g. diabetes)

The flu vaccine takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection. In the meantime, you are still at risk for getting the flu.

Once again, students will not be able to participate in the clinic without a parent permission form. Those students who have already submitted a permission form will be vaccinated first. We are not sure at this time how many doses we will have. For further information about the clinic, please contact the school nurse at ext. 130. For more information about influenza, go to www.flu.gov.

Sincerely,

Gary Brown
Superintendent-Director