Dist. 15 students among first in county to get H1N1 vaccine

About 60 percent of the students at 17 Palatine elementary schools are expected to be vaccinated against H1N1, or "swine" flu, Thursday and Friday.

Children who attend public and private schools in Palatine can be vaccinated, along with school staffers who are considered high risk: those who are pregnant; caring for infants under 6 months; are younger than 24 or have certain medical conditions.

Parents and siblings cannot participate.

As of Monday, 80-85 percent of parents had returned the permission forms, with about 60 percent of those opting for the vaccine, said Jim Garwood, assistant superintendent for administrative services. No one will be turned away if they bring their form the day of, he added.

The Cook County Health Department, which is doing the vaccinations, says it will bring enough vaccine for every child in the schools, said spokesman Sean McDermott.

The Palatine schools in District 15 have 7,800 of the district's 12,300 students.

Students at the six District 15 schools in Rolling Meadows will have to wait at least a few weeks more, and the two Hoffman Estates schools will come after that, said Garwood.

"A slow, steady trickle of parents in those schools (outside Palatine) want to know why" their children's shots are coming later, Garwood said. "We refer them to the Cook County Department of Public Health."

Still, the assistant superintendent said, "I think we are blessed" to be at the top of the list, only wishing the vaccine could have come sooner.

Five-year-old Michael Siver of Hoffman Estates, a District 15 kindergartner, died Saturday of causes related to H1N1.

"It's been a lot of work to try to organize things and thinking of things nobody has thought of yet," he added.

"I told our administrators we were going to be asked to do a lot of work, but potentially we could save lives.

"I never dreamed how true that was."

While Hoffman Estates parents may have heightened concerns in the wake of Michael Siver's tragic death, the virus at this point is probably everywhere, Garwood said, in all the schools and probably every gathering place in Cook County.

"I feel the urgency, but having one student's death doesn't make anyone more or less at risk. Everyone's at risk."

District 15 got the feeling it was among the first to express interest last August when the Cook County Health Department put out feelers to see which districts would cooperate with a vaccination program.

Still, officials aren't sure why Palatine was selected.

To complicate matters, the health department decided that schools in the Palatine ZIP codes of 60067 and 60074 will receive the vaccine.

Students who attend those schools - no matter where they live - are eligible, but students who live in those ZIP codes but attend schools outside them are not.

Thursday's vaccinations will be at Hunting Ridge, Lincoln, Stuart R. Paddock, Jane Addams, Lake Louise and Virginia Lake schools in district 15; and private schools Quest Academy, St. Theresa and St. Thomas of Villanova. Immanuel Lutheran students will go to St. Theresa to get their shots.

Friday's vaccinations are at: Gray M. Sanborn; Marion Jordan; Pleasant Hill; Walter R. Sundling Junior High and Winston Campus elementary and junior high. Three Oaks Montessori students will go to Winston for their shots.

Cook County is administering the vaccination program and providing people to deliver the nasal sprays and shots, but District 15 is doing a lot of the legwork, said Garwood, including communicating with parents and collecting forms.

Last week the district held an informational workshop about the benefits of the H1N1 vaccine. About 100 parents came.

Children have been especially vulnerable to this virus, raising concerns nationwide. The Illinois Department of Public Health said that as of last week five of the 22 H1N1-related deaths this year were patients aged 18 and under.

The health department has an online site listing the order in which schools in Cook County will host vaccinations, at cookcountypublichealth.org/files/Fludocs/CCDPH_SCHOOL_VACC_CAMPAIGN_SCHED_10082009_web.pdf

• Daily Herald Staff Writer Ashok Selvam contributed to this report.

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