WALLS, MS-- The wait is finally over for DeSoto County schools. The district began giving free swine flu shots to students Tuesday-- nearly a month after originally planned.
Schools in Walls and Lake Cormorant were the first to get the injectable vaccine. More than 60% of parents with kids in those schools consented to having their children vaccinated. That's a higher average than schools in the rest of the state.
They squeezed my arm and stuck the needle in here” says Kindergartner Aniya Hayes, showing off a band-aid on her shoulder.
Aniya was one of the students who received her swine flu shot, and a little something else for being brave.
“I got a sucker, a blueberry sucker.”
Aniya's mom Tina, who works as a teacher's assistant, says she knew right away she would be signing her daughter's consent form.
“I've been hearing about so different cases of the swine flu and kids dying from it. It's better to be safe than sorry.”
Dr. Alfio Rauza with the Mississippi Health Department says the vaccine is the closest thing parents can get to a guarantee.
“You can cough in your sleeve and keep away from people who've got the flu and wash your hands a lot, but this vaccine is 70-90% effective” says Rauza.
Schools in DeSoto County just have to play catch up administering it. The swine flu shot was originally supposed to be here by October 15th.
“It's been a problem with manufacturing” says Rauza. “The virus did not grow at the rate we had hoped it would grow for the manufacturers, so we had less of a yield.”
Horn Lake schools will be next to administer the vaccine and that's tentatively scheduled for this Thursday, November 12th.
The three state Department of Health offices in DeSoto County received the swine flu vaccine last week. The clinics are giving the shot free to pregnant women, children six months to five years old, and caregivers of infants under six months.
