BY ROBIN KNEPPER
Orange County students will be given voluntary H1N1 flu shots in schools starting next week.
Elementary school students will be the first to receive the voluntary shots Thursday. Permission slips were sent home this week and need to be returned to the schools by Monday.
A letter sent to parents at the same time and posted on the schools' Web site describes the vaccination programs and the two methods of administering the vaccine. Parents can select their preferred method, either a shot or nose spray.
If parents do not return the "preference" response sheet, the student will receive the vaccine by whatever method is available.
Vaccinations will continue through Nov. 13. After elementary school students are vaccinated, the health department will vaccinate middle school students followed by high school students.
The Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Health District has notified the school system that it now considers all flu to be swine flu.
"Based on the results we are seeing at the state laboratory, if a person has symptoms consistent with influenza, it's reasonable to assume at this point that it is novel H1N1 flu. [There] is little, if any, seasonal influenza circulating recently in our area," according to the Health District statement.
For more information, see the Orange County Public Schools Web site: ocss-va.org