George School is offering an H1N1 vaccine clinic for both day and boarding students on Monday, November 2, and Wednesday, November 4, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in Marshall Center. Parents must complete the H1N1 Influenza Vaccination Consent Form and return it to George School immediately if they would like to have their child vaccinated at school.

Vaccination is the best way to protect children from the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. This potentially serious disease, sometimes called swine flu, was first identified in the United States in late April 2009. The virus has caused illness ranging from mild to severe, including hospitalizations and deaths in adults and children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that children and young adults aged 6 months through 24 years be vaccinated against 2009 H1N1 as soon as the vaccine is available.

Since the beginning of September, more than half the people hospitalized for swine flu have been under 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. “This is really, really different from what we see with seasonal flu,” the CDC’s Anne Schuchat said during a press briefing Tuesday on swine flu. “We do think this is a young person’s disease.”

George School is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to offer the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine to children at school. There is no cost to students for this vaccine but there is an injection fee of $10 which will be charged to student accounts.

Please visit the CDC’s 2009 H1N1 influenza website at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ and also http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/parents for more information especially for parents. If you have any questions about the vaccine or the vaccination clinics, please call 215.579.6715.

To read more about the measures George School is taking to protect the health of the school community, please visit our H1N1 Influenza Update webpage.