CALEDONIA — Parents of Caledonia elementary and middle school students are re-evaluating whether or not to allow their children to receive the H1N1 vaccine after nine high-school students went to the hospital Wednesday with complications from the vaccine.
“I won”t be allowing my son to take it,” Ernie Philem, the father of a fourth-grader at Caledonia Elementary, said Thursday afternoon at the school. “I had already decided before all this happened. My wife had doubts about my decision, then when this happened she”s behind me 100 percent.”
Nine students were transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle Wednesday, with symptoms ranging from hives, fever, shortness of breath and other reactions after being administered the swine flu vaccine at school, through a partnership with the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Mississippi University for Women nursing department.
One student remained in care after eight others were treated and released; another student returned to the emergency room Wednesday night.
The reactions have caused apprehension among parents.
“There”s just a little bit of hesitation,” said Shannon Voss, mother of a fifth-grader and a seventh-grader at Caledonia. “I think the vaccine is probably safe. I think it was probably just not a very good batch (Wednesday). Still, my kids are a little worried.”
Both the LCSD and Columbus Municipal School District received multiple calls from concerned parents Thursday asking if future vaccinations would proceed as planned. H1N1 vaccines will continue to be administered at the schools in concert with the MSDH and local medical professionals.
“It was just side effects,” said Jill Lester, who has a daughter at Caledonia Elementary School. “(Students) freaked out over it and (school officials) stopped it, and it was the right thing to do. But I am grateful my daughter can have this vaccine because the actual illness has killed many, whereas the vaccine has killed none.”
According to information provided to parents with vaccination consent letters, risks from the inactivated H1N1 vaccine are similar to those from the seasonal flu vaccine: soreness, redness, tenderness or swelling at the injection site, fainting, headache, muscle aches, fever or nausea. Life-threatening reactions to vaccines are rare.
After research, MSDH officials determined nothing was wrong with the vaccine doses used Wednesday at Caledonia.
“Once we ascertained what batch it was and where it was given out, it was not considered a batch problem,” said Liz Sharlot, director of communication for MSDH.
Hundreds of students were treated from the same batch with no reported problems, Sharlot added, noting allergic reactions in a small percentage of individuals are not unusual. Hundreds of students at Columbus schools and other Lowndes County schools were administered the vaccine without incident.
Lowndes County School District Superintendent Mike Halford reported two of the nine students transported to the hospital Wednesday were back in school Thursday. Others planned to return Friday or Monday.
MUW nursing students had just finished administering the vaccine to all willing CHS students when the reactions developed, prompting officials to postpone plans to continue vaccinating middle and elementary school students.
“We don”t want to give people the impression it was just a bunch of anxious kids reacting. We stopped it because of that. The reactions were far more than hives, I can promise you,” said Halford.
The MSDH partnering with medical professionals and school districts to provide the injectable swine flu vaccine to students throughout the state.
Oktibbeha and Starkville schools have made plans to allow on-site inoculation at its schools; MSDH officials making the rounds at school districts throughout the state have yet to address the West Point school board.
The injectable vaccine is made from killed flu virus and is considered safe for everyone 6 months and older who is able to take a seasonal flu vaccine without side effects. Those with allergies to eggs are at high risk for allergic reactions to flu vaccines.
More than 1,200 Mississippi cases of H1N1 swine flu have been confirmed by laboratory testing since May 15.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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