H1N1 vaccine costly for Montreal school children

H1N1 vaccination clinics in Montreal had been standing empty recently, and yet staff were forced to turn away anyone not in a priority group because of Montreal Health Agency policies. As school boards react to announcements that Quebec health officials plan to have schools bus elementary and secondary school children to mass vaccination sites, healthy children in the 5 to 19 year old age group have been bumped up into the priority group.

Busing to Mass Vaccination Centers a Costly Decision

Quebec's director of public health protection, Dr. Horacio Arruda, claims there isn't enough vaccine available and says bringing it to schools would result in the loss of precious doses. "If we distribute them across thousands of thousands of sites we will lose vaccine, so we will have less available vaccine for the people to benefit from it," he said in a CBC interview.

Although the concern is understandable, there has been no information released yet as to how schools are going to pay for the cost of transporting children. School boards worry about what will happen if they are not compensated for these expenses.

"All we've been told to date is to keep a separate accounting of all costs related to H1N1 — with no indication there will be funding for it," said Marcus Tabachnick, chairman of the Lester B. Pearson School Board. "It is going to add up to significant dollars with … the new transportation costs that are involved, with supplies we've had to buy, with personnel costs."

If costs are not covered by the government, our children could end up suffering academically. Tabachnick warns that school boards have no funds set aside for this sort of operation and their only option if not compensated would be to divert funds from the schools' operating budgets.

If a majority of parents take children for vaccination on their own in the next few days, it can only be hoped that schools can seriously reduce the need to transport students to mass vaccination centers. Perhaps next week will see some altering of plans, to include smaller in-school clinics or small scale transportation to local vaccination centers, for students whose parents prefer to have their children vaccinated through the schools.

Swine flu shots are free to all Quebec residents. To find an H1N1 vaccination clinic in Montreal visit the Pandémie Québec web site or consult the flyer sent to households by health officials. The site also offers information on what to do if you think you or your child has swine flu. Remember to keep children home until fever has been down 24 hours, or until the seventh day after symptoms appear - whichever is longer!