KNOXVILLE — The Knox County Health Department (KCHD) has rescheduled the previously postponed in-school influenza (FluMist) vaccination clinics. Several clinics were postponed last week due to a delayed shipment of vaccine from the manufacturer. KCHD has now received the full shipment of vaccine. The rescheduled clinics are listed below.

If parents signed a consent form for their originally scheduled in-school flu clinic, they will not need to sign another consent form to have their child vaccinated on the rescheduled date. Parents may contact KCHD at 865-215-5150 or SLVC@knoxcounty.org with questions. They should provide a phone number where they can be reached as well as their child’s first and last name, school and grade.

FluMist is an intra-nasal influenza vaccine that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in children as young as 2. No child will be vaccinated without a completed, signed and returned consent form. Parents or guardians may complete the consent form online at knoxcounty.org/health/flumist. Parents may also download paper consent forms and view a schedule of the vaccination clinics on this same Web page.

On average, KCHD has vaccinated approximately 45 percent of Knox County’s school-aged children each year. This program is a national model for community flu prevention. Evidence supports vaccinating children as a way to protect the entire community from influenza. Since the inception of in-school clinics, Knox County Schools have not closed due to seasonal flu. (Two Knox County schools were closed in 2008 following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for H1N1 flu. Those recommendations have since changed.)

Published October 16, 2014