BY JIM HALL
Schools in Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg will get their first shipments of H1N1 vaccine this week, though they'll offer the nasal-mist version only.
Spotsylvania will distribute up to 1,310 doses of the vaccine tonight at Riverbend High School, beginning at 5 p.m.
Fredericksburg will hold its clinic tomorrow at Lafayette Upper Elementary School, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Up to 800 doses will be available.
Dr. John Petrasky, director of the Rappahannock Area Health District, said he was not able to offer either school system the injectable version of the vaccine.
The nasal version, or FluMist, is sprayed into the nostrils. It is approved for people ages 2 through 49 who are not pregnant and have no underlying medical conditions.
More than 80 percent of children are able to take the nasal version, Petrasky said. Children with respiratory problems are excluded.
"The FluMist is a great vaccine. The big problem with it is that the kids who are asthmatics are going to be turned away," Petrasky said.
With the two clinics this week, public schools in all five localities in the region will have hosted clinics. Two private schools, Fredericksburg Christian and Fredericksburg Academy, also have received vaccine from the Health Department and hosted clinics.
Dr. Karen Remley, state health commissioner, attended Friday's clinic at Fredericksburg Academy.
Remley said in a phone interview yesterday that she was the luncheon speaker at a convention of school nurses in Chantilly Friday. She said she wanted to stop at a school vaccination clinic on the way to Northern Virginia to see how the program was working. Petrasky suggested the one at Fredericksburg Academy and joined her there.
"I was also interested in seeing how we're working with the private schools to make sure that we were meeting the needs of all kids to get vaccinated," she said.
Remley watched for about an hour as volunteer doctors and nurses vaccinated the children.
"I was very impressed at the thoughtful way that it was run," she said.
The school had received about 600 doses, 300 each of the two types of vaccine. At the end of the day, it had vaccinated about 500 students and returned about 100 doses of the nasal mist to the Health Department, said Robert Graves, headmaster.
"It was very nice to have her show up like that," Graves said, of Remley. "It gave confidence and appreciation to our volunteers."
Petrasky said that public and private schools have equal standing in the vaccination program. Both programs have sent school nurses to his planning meetings.
Fredericksburg Christian, for example, vaccinated about 570 of its children at a clinic Saturday.
"They were ready to go, and we had the right match of vaccine for them to hold it," Petrasky said.
Spotsylvania also wanted to hold a Saturday clinic, but "we didn't have enough vaccine for them because their clinics are huge," Petrasky said.
Remley said that if parents can't get the shot for their children at one of the school clinics, they can contact their pediatricians or the Health Department.
Pediatricians in the area have started receiving small quantities of the vaccine. Preferred Pediatrics, for example, one of area's largest practices, notified its patients yesterday on its Web site that it had received "small shipments" from the state.
"If you have children that are not school-aged, we can put them on a waiting list," the posting said.
But the Health Department is not a realistic option for frustrated parents.
Petrasky said the department has given the vaccine to women in its maternity clinics.
But it has no vaccine for anyone else, he said.
"I may have had one or two doses [of the injectable version] hiding somewhere in the district, but basically we're down to zero," Petrasky said.
Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com