DHEC began last summer to work with school districts across the state on a plan to provide H1N1 flu shots to students on site.
With two school systems in the Rock Hill area getting on board last week with DHEC’s inoculation efforts, that leaves only the Fairfield County School District out of the vaccination loop.
“We began working with them (the Fairfield County School District) late last summer,” said George Timms, Program Coordinator for DHEC’s Region 3, which includes Fairfield County, “before we had our M.O.A. in place.”
An M.O.A., or Memorandum of Agreement, basically covers the nuts and bolts of how a program like a district-wide vaccination would be handled, Timms said.
The question that many are asking, then, is why has it taken so long for Fairfield to get with the program?
“DHEC may have been working with someone in the district since last summer,” said school board chairperson Catherine Favor-Kennedy, “but when it came to us (the full board) we had no idea of any of this.”
The board, she said, was concerned about liability, and decided to send out a survey asking parents if they favored H1N1 injections being made available in the schools.
“As soon as we get the results of that,” she said, “we will make a decision.
So far, Kennedy said, out of 3,248 survey letters sent out only 1,075 have been returned. Of those, 586 have expressed a desire for the vaccination.
“Hopefully they will make a decision soon so we can move on or make other arrangements for the children,” said Ellen Cooper, DHEC’s Health Supervisor for Fairfield County. “If there is interest (in a vaccine) and they don’t let us go in, we’ll make arrangements within the community.”
And that could pose some logistical difficulties, she said, given how widespread the county’s population is.
For the School Board’s part, Kennedy said it was their intention to make a decision Thursday night (Nov. 12) at a special called meeting.
“I feel certain we’ll get it done,” she said.
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