Flu shots

Giant Eagle comes over and offers the flu shot at the start of flu season, but only to staff.

I wish it was more accessible. Our HD only has 2 nurses. Flu clinic companies are paid for their services. Few of my students were vaccinated. Parents were explaining how horrible it was and the 10-14 day recovery but shut down real quick when I offered that flu shots can alleviate the symptoms, even if they get the opposite strain than vaccinated for.

We have a foundation here and they come and do a flu clinic for us every fall. They also do a Tdap clinic in the spring for rising 6th graders, so they're ready for 7th grade. It's local to our area, but there may be something available in your area. I would think the health department might be a good place to start for information.

Yes, it is a lot of paperwork and takes a lot of time. Yes, it is TOTALLY worth every second of work we put into it. Many of the parents who chose not to vaccinate are now complaining about the time they have to take off of work to pick up their sick children. Of course, it's our fault the kid is sick, they must have gotten it at school! We set it up, the shots were FREE, and you chose not to vaccinate.

Our local clinic comes in one day and vaccinates all the kids for us. We send home permission slips a week before and all parents have to do is sign and return and kids can get the shot. I'm not really involved at all which is a plus :)

Check with the local health department. We do this each fall. Paperwork is not bad. They sent permission forms that go home with students and are returned to school. After we get them back, signed by parent/guardian, we forward the forms to the health department and on a scheduled day a team of 6 nurse show up to give the vaccine. This year my school had about 120 kids signed up and they were done in less than an hour.

One of our local hospitals does our flu shot clinic. I think they do it as part of their community outreach program with a grant from the state (? - I may be wrong about that). They do all of the paperwork. We just set up a room for them and they do everything else. They do bill insurance, but no one is refused or charged if they don't have insurance.

The sad thing is our flu shot clinic numbers have been dwindling each year. It's kind of sad. We didn't offer the nasal spray this year and we lost another 4-5 kids because of that.

Does anyone know if in Houston, Texas they have anything services like that? I was thinking of that lately since we had a teacher with the flu here and she would not go home! And I honestly think I'm immune to that crap because I had tons of students with the flu and the teacher cough and sneeze on me and I did not get sick.

No. That's optional, and up to the parents.

This year, the kids who got the shot got Flu B, the kids who didn't go Flu A. Or vice versa.

No. That's optional, and up to the parents.

This year, the kids who got the shot got Flu B, the kids who didn't go Flu A. Or vice versa.

Similar on my end. But we actually have a decent percentage of students that get the vaccine each year. But despite it, I saw the largest number of diagnosed cases of the flu this year.

I mean I know it's optional, I just thought that if the reason for not getting it is the lack of time/funds/access to it (seems to be the case around me) then I could eliminate that excuse. And when the parents are blaming the school for illness I can honestly say I did all I could to prevent a flu outbreak.

If I don't offer an opportunity to easily get the child vaccinated (like, if I don't make it extremely easy and convenient to get it) then I didn't really do everything I could. I like being able to say "I did all I could".

It is actually listed under the proposed changes that will be going to legislation later this year in my states to make the flu shot mandatory for daycares, preschools, and schools for ages 6 months through 6 years.

Honestly, I feel this will be a toughy. A.) With other vaccines, once you are vaccinated, chances are very slim that you will come down with that disease (Measles, Polio, etc), still possible, but unlikely. Whereas with the flu, even if you are vaccinated, there are so many strains that are not covered by the vaccine. B.) This will be mandatory every year, it is hard enough to get parents compliant on shots that are only due every 4 years!!!

Does anyone know if in Houston, Texas they have anything services like that? I was thinking of that lately since we had a teacher with the flu here and she would not go home! And I honestly think I'm immune to that crap because I had tons of students with the flu and the teacher cough and sneeze on me and I did not get sick.

I'm outside of Houston, and we had Walgreens come in and do a flu shot clinic for our faculty in the fall. Our district does not offer vaccines to students, but there are several free clinics in the area that we recommend to our students.