KNOXVILLE — The Knox County Health Department (KCHD) will start the second phase of its School-located Influenza (FluMist) Vaccination Clinics Thursday, Nov. 6 to provide the recommended second dose to vaccine-naïve students. Children 8 years old or younger who have not had at least two influenza vaccinations since July 2010 are considered vaccine naïve and should have two (2) doses separated by at least 28 days. Phase two vaccination clinics will take place in Knox County elementary schools as well as some Head Starts, private elementary schools and child care centers. A schedule of the vaccination clinics is available at the schools or online at knoxcounty.org/health/flumist.

“Children are known to be the major transmitter of the flu to other persons, including those who could be at high risk for complications, like the elderly and infants,” said KCHD Director Dr. Martha Buchanan. “This collaborative effort creates a healthier community and helps keep our children in school and schools open.”

No child will be vaccinated without a completed, signed and returned consent form. If parents and guardians completed a consent form during phase one, they do not need to complete another one. If a child missed his or her school’s phase one clinic, he or she may receive a flu vaccination during phase two. In addition, parents may take their child to any health department location for a flu vaccine.

On average over the past eight years, KCHD has vaccinated approximately 45 percent of school-aged children or 25,000 kids per year during the School-located Influenza Vaccination Clinics. Evidence supports vaccinating children as a way to protect the entire community from influenza. In fact, KCHD’s FluMist program is a national model for community flu prevention. 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.) More information about the vaccination clinics is available online at www.knoxcounty.org/health.

“As always, we’re pleased with the student participation in the FluMist clinics, but we want to remind everyone else to get their flu vaccination as well,” added Buchanan. “Annual flu vaccination should begin as soon as vaccine is available and continue throughout the flu season into January. Flu outbreaks can happen as early as October but frequently peak in January or even later.”

Apart from the school-located clinics, influenza vaccine is widely available in the community, including all three KCHD locations. At KCHD, the flu vaccine cost to Knox County residents is $25.

Published October 25, 2014