2007 School FluMist Vaccination Campaign
The Knox County Health Department (KCHD) will offer FREE FluMist to eligible children ages 5 up to and less than 19 years of age living in Knox County, Tennessee. Our goal is to vaccinate at least 70% of the eligible children in Knox County.
KCHD has partnered with the Knox County School System and the private schools in Knox County to offer FREE FluMist Vaccinations in the school setting to the children of Knox County. You may access the schedule of school clinics provided through a link on this page. The vaccinations will be offered in two phases. Phase 2 will be held for Grades K – 5 and is primarily for vaccine naïve children.
Vaccine Na ïve is defined as:
1) children aged 6 months--8 years who have not been vaccinated previously at any time with either live, attenuated influenza vaccine (FluMist) (doses separated by >6 weeks) or trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (doses separated by >4 weeks), with single annual doses in subsequent years, and
2) children aged 6 months--8 years who received only 1 dose in their first year of vaccination receive 2 doses the following year, with single annual doses in subsequent years.
The dates for the Two Phases are:
- Phase 1: September 24 – October 19
- Phase 2: November 27 – December 6
Influenza usually enters a community through children, and children are known to be the major transmitter of flu to other persons, including those whom we consider to be high risk for complications of flu. In Japan, where they vaccinated all school-aged children against influenza for over a decade, there is medical proof that overall rates of influenza illness, and death from influenza, significantly declined for all age groups.
Because Knox County Health Department believes that vaccinating children can protect our entire community from influenza, we are excited to offer free in school vaccination for all children living in Knox County, TN. FluMist is the nasal spray formulation of flu vaccine, and there is increasing evidence that it is as or more effective than the shot, and just as safe. (For example, in 2004 St. Jude’s Hospital used FluMist to vaccinate all of their staff except those working in bone marrow transplant units!) The health department has received endorsement and support for this project from the infectious disease specialty doctors in Knoxville and the Knoxville Academy of Medicine.
Consent forms for vaccination will go out through schools and are available through a link on this web page. For parents whose children attend schools hosting a vaccination clinic, we ask for the parent to review the information, complete and sign the consent form, and return the completed consent form to your child’s homeroom teacher.
Knox County Health Department believes this school-based influenza vaccine program is good for our community. However, it is a costly endeavor, both financially and in manpower. The vaccine alone costs almost one million dollars. For this reason, alternative funding sources and delivery methods will be needed in order for this project to continue. We would appreciate your input on whether the FluMist school vaccination program is worthwhile and how it can be sustained. Please provide us your comments either by using the back of the consent form or on the link on this web-site.
Additional information about influenza or this project is available at the following locations:
- Your pediatrician or family physician
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Influenza Virus Vaccine Live, Intranasal
- Call the Knox County Health Department Information Line at 211
