Vantaa young people to get swine flu shots in school gyms

Vaccinations to begin nationwide in a few weeks

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The City of Vantaa plans to vaccinate all healthy children and young people aged 3 to 24 against swine flu in school gymnasiums.
      Healthy Vantaa residents in the age group are to be invited in the late autumn to five Vantaa schools to receive the shot, says Arja Ruponen, head of preventative health care for the City of Vantaa.
      Children and young people are the fifth on the priority list of six risk groups mentioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, who are to be among the first to get the vaccine.
     
Most of the vaccinations in the Uusimaa region are to be administered at public health clinics. Ruponen says that this will be the case for most risk groups in Vantaa as well.
      In Helsinki, each risk group is to be given a period of a week or two during which those in the group can get their shots from their local health clinics, says Helsinki City Epidemiologist Hannele Kotilainen.
      Pregnant women, and children of postnatal care age are to be vaccinated at maternity and postnatal clinics in Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa.
     
In the coming weeks, local authorities will try to inform residents of the vaccination schedules.
      Pregnant women and babies can be fairly easily reached through the maternity and postnatal clinics. Other risk groups are to be informed through the Internet, and through press releases.
      Vaccination of schoolchildren at school is being considered in many communities, including Helsinki. However, administering vaccines requires parental permission.
     
Finnish health officials announced on Thursday that H1N1 flu vaccinations will begin in Finland in late October. The first to get the shots will be health care personnel, followed by pregnant women.
      The approximately two million Finns in all of the risk groups are to be given the shots by the end of the year, said National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) Director-General Juhani Eskola on Thursday at a press conference of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
      A group of experts convening on Thursday recommends that pregnant women take the vaccine. While pregnant women are not any more likely to catch the H1N1 virus than any other population groups, they are 4-5 times more likely to suffer complications, said THL research professor Petri Ruutu.
      While there is no epidemic of the virus yet, it will come in the autumn and winter, Ruutu says.
     
The City of Vantaa is preparing to ask retired health care personnel and nursing students if they would be willing to work as substitutes if large numbers of health workers fall ill with swine flu.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Swine flu vaccination programme to keep local authorities busy in coming months (21.9.2009)
  Swine flu vaccinations to start in late October (18.9.2009)

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