IPS to get flu shots starting Monday

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Monday morning, many students in Indianapolis will be showing up at school with a consent form.  A massive H1N1 flu shot drive will be held in several school districts including IPS.

Last week, the Marion County Heatlh Department sent forms to schools that have been forwarded on to parents.

Monday morning, H1N1 vaccination clinics begin in IPS Schools.

Mary Louise Bewley, IPS Spokesperson, "Elementary schools will be taken care of first. About five schools a day are being seen through this process, then we'll get to our middle schools and high schools. We should be done before the Christmas holidays."

The clinics will be staffed with nurses and nurse practioners. Each school's gymnasium will be used for the clinics.

"We'll have it organized in such a fashion through the guidance of the Health Department, so the children can be assured that if they have the form, they are given the vaccine, "Mary Louise Bewley said.  "Children with asthma, for example, are going to need a shot. Other children can just get the nasal dosage."

Other township schools are scheduling clinics this week. Wayne Township has scheduled a clinic Monday morning at Westlake Elementary. In fact, Wayne Township has 339 out of 781 students participating in Monday's clinic. Over In Washington Township, 61 percent of the students have turned in consent forms for their Monday clinic at Allisonville School. Half the students at Spring Mill Elementary have turned in their forms for Tuesday's clinic.

All of these schools have one thing in common, they need those consent forms.

Mary Louise Bewley,"We really need parents to ask their children about those forms if you havent seen one, ask for it, sign it, return it to the school.  If a child does not return a form, we simply can not give them the vaccination."