New Bedford plans school-based H1N1 vaccine clinic

NEW BEDFORD, Mass.—Officials in New Bedford on Wednesday announced the city’s first school-based H1N1 vaccination clinic.

They were clearly frustrated.

Massachusetts is operating very differently than Rhode Island in getting the vaccine out.

The state Department of Public Health is not distributing the vaccine. Rather, the state’s 351 communities and their boards of health, doctors and in some cases, school districts, are ordering and receiving the vaccine directly—in dribs and drabs.

“It’s really a matter of all hands are on deck. It’s a collaborative effort,“ said Marianne Souza, of the New Bedford Board of Health.

The Board of Health and the school department are working together to organize the city’s first school-based H1N1 vaccine clinic.

“We’re targeting first the middle schools in New Bedford with the limited vaccine that we have, and followed by that, we’ll be working with students at New Bedford High School,“ DeSouza said.

Students at Roosevelt Middle School will be the first to receive the vaccine on Thursday. And based on availability, health officials hope to do a middle school each week during the month of December.

“The highest rate of attack rate for the virus has been, actually, with students and children in the age range of 14 and 15. So, you can understand why the middle schools would be a priority for us as well as the high school students,“ DeSouza said.

Health officials in New Bedford said parents of children under the age of 10 need to call their pediatrician’s office. They’re getting doses each week, and they should eventually be able to accommodate them.

There was clear frustration at the news conference at the unavailability of the H1N1 vaccine, even criticism as to how the vaccine is being distributed in Massachusetts.

If you live in Massachusetts, and you’re trying to get information about H1N1 vaccine availability, check with your local board of health, your school district, your pediatrician or your obstetrician’s office.

New Bedford health officials said they’re hoping to organize a large scale clinic for the general population sometime in January.