H1N1 consent forms expected to be delivered to parents by week’s end

MANATEE — Starting next week, parents will have the opportunity to notify the Manatee County School District if they want their child vaccinated against the swine flu.

By Friday, parental consent forms will be available at each of the district’s 53 schools for students to take home.

They will likely arrive in the hands of parents Monday after classes and must be signed and returned to each child’s respective school, said Margi Nanney, district spokeswoman and a member of the district’s infectious disease committee.

“Once we get them back, we’ll coordinate with the health department to see how many doses we need at each school,” Nanney said.

School authorities expect it to take at least a week before all the forms are returned.

The infectious disease committee has met daily with Manatee County Health Department officials to discuss a distribution plan in schools, but details of how and when the doses will be distributed have not yet been determined.

“Parents, please be patient,” Nanney said Wednesday. “Everything will be driven by the availability of the vaccine.”

The county’s first batch of swine flu vaccine arrived Tuesday, but included only 600 of the expected 1,700 nasal mist doses. Another 2,200 doses have been shipped directly to private health providers here who requested more than 100 doses and had their request approved by the health department.

Ronald Cox, the health department’s director of epidemiology, said he still isn’t sure why his office did not receive what it had ordered.

“We are strictly at the mercy of what they send to us,” he said Wednesday. He did say he suspects the department will receive more by Friday.

The supply that came in Tuesday was distributed Wednesday to local physicians, who will also administer it, Cox said.

Altogether, 2,800 doses — including the 600 that went to the health department — have been delivered to Manatee County so far, Cox said. About seven private providers ordered doses.

One is All Purpose Healthcare Inc, on 60th Street Court East, Bradenton. Administrator Chelsea Reed said that office received 500 doses Tuesday. As of Wednesday a handful of pediatric offices had already referred some children to their office for the vaccine, she said.

Although the vaccination is free at the health department, some private physicians are charging a $20 administrative fee. The fee is covered by most major insurance plans, including Medicare, according to Reed.

So far two women, ages 27 and 37, have died from swine flu in Manatee County. Both had underlying medical conditions that put them at greater risk of complications from the H1N1 virus, health department officials said.

The state of Florida ordered 100,000 doses of the nasal mist, recommended for healthy people ages 2-49 who are not pregnant. Priority groups also include household caregivers and health-care providers.

The nasal spray vaccine is made with live, weakened viruses of the flu. A flu shot, which will contain a dead virus, will be available next and is approved for people 6 months and older, including people with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ or call the Florida Flu Information Line from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT at (877) 352-3581.

Natalie Neysa Alund, legal affairs reporter, can be reached at 745-7095.