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A Smithville event served as the Clay County Public Health Center’s first go at targeting a group known for spreading swine flu: school children.

“Someone described them as walking petri dishes,” Jodee Fredrick, the health center’s director of health, promotion and planning, said of the children.

On Nov. 9 more than 450 people received the H1N1 vaccine in the Smithville High School cafeteria during the health center’s first school-based clinic.

The free clinic was geared toward Smithville students and their immediate families. It was open to those who fell into one of three groups considered high risk: children ages six months to 18 years, people living with infants younger than six months old and pregnant women.

“We had been watching this epidemic and wanted to know, who’s going to the hospital? Pregnant women and school-age children,” Fredrick said.

Close proximity inside schools aids the spread of the virus among children. And then sick kids can take the virus beyond the school walls.

“If we can get our kids vaccinated, we can help protect the rest of the community,” Fredrick said.

More than 250 people arrived at the school close to 4 p.m. — the start time for the four-hour clinic.

Paul Haarup and his 16-year-old daughter, Britny Haarup, joined the line outside the school before the clinic’s start time. They came to get Britny vaccinated.

“We don’t want to have to go through the symptoms, so I figured she should come,” Haarup said.

Tara Jackson brought Blake Jackson, 4, and Hailey Jackson, 9, to the clinic.

“When I heard about it, I figured, ‘Why not?’ It’s a free vaccination, so there’s no reason not to have them get it,” she said.

The health center could have vaccinated more people during the clinic. About 1,500 doses were available for the clinic.

The vaccine is most commonly administered as a nasal spray.

The health center is aiming to hold health clinics in all county schools by the end of the first week of December.

Smithville school district’s absenteeism rate — the percentage of students absent from school — has recently been slightly higher than average. School and health officials believe the H1N1 virus has played a significant role in keeping students out of school.

“It will be interesting to see what happens to attendance after this clinic,” Fredrick said.

Smithville’s clinic, Fredrick said, was the “calmest” H1N1 vaccination clinic the health center had held. People didn’t arrive hours early and argue over the front of the line as they had at past clinics, she said.

For information about the health center’s future clinics and other questions related to the H1N1 virus, contact the health center at 595-4200 or visit www.clayhealth.com.

Smithville Editor Nancy Hull Rigdon can be reached at 532-4444 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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