St. John's Clinic offers FLUMIST vaccine to Springfield Catholic and area school students

oct. 15, 2007

oct.15 at 9a.m.—St. Elizabeth ann seton school
oct.15 at 10 a.m.—Immaculate Conception school
oct. 16 at 9 a.m.—St. Agnes School
oct. 16 at 11:00 p.m.—St. Joseph school
oct. 18 at 9a.m.—Republic Middle and High school
Oct. 19 at 9 a.m.- republic elementary school-
oct. 24 at 9 a.m.—ava and plainview schools
oct. 31 at 9a.m.—catholic high school  

St. John’s nurses will be onsite at Springfield Catholic, Ava and Republic schools Oct. 15-31, 2007 to provide FluMist intranasal flu vaccine to students. Organizers hope that by providing the pain-free vaccine at school, more children will be immunized.

“One of the barriers to flu immunization is that you have to go somewhere, to get the vaccine,” says St. John’s Clinic pediatrician Robert Steele. “We’re hoping that parents will see this as a quick and easy opportunity to have their children vaccinated."

The vaccine, which is indicated for healthy children ages 5 and older, is being offered at the discounted rate of $25.

“This is really exciting,” says Springfield Catholic Schools nurse Bev Talty. “It had such a positive effect on the health of our students and families last year. Children are overall healthier from a flu vaccine.”

Information packets and consent forms were sent home with students and Talty says she’s received word from about 100 parents expressing interest.

“It’s a benefit because we will get to vaccinate children who might not be vaccinated otherwise. Parents won’t have to take off work and of course, children don’t like needles, so this is an attractive alternative,” she says.

ABOUT FLUMIST

• FluMist is a safe and effective vaccine for influenza that is delivered as a nasal spray.
• By immunizing more school children, the absentee rate may be reduced as well as the use of antibiotics and provider visits by those who get vaccinated.
• Since children spread the epidemic more efficiently than any other age group, by immunizing the children, we will secondarily protect their younger siblings, parents and elderly grandparents.

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For media information, contact St. John’s Media Relations at 417-820-2426 or cscott@sprg.mercy.net.