Nationwide flu vaccine delay affecting Middle Georgia schools

Clinics hoping to start a full slate of flu vaccines soon will have to wait on at least one option.

A manufacturing delay has created a "nationwide shortage" of the nasal mist vaccine, said Alyson Stuckart, public information officer for Georgia's North Central Health District.

"This is not just across the district," she said. "This is pretty much across the board."

School systems are among the entities affected by the delay. According to a news release from Monroe County schools, local and district public health officials have indicated the vaccine may not be fully available until as late as early December.

The ideal time to start the school influenza vaccine clinics is in October, according to the release.

"Where we normally would've started our clinics now or in the next few weeks or so, we can't start until we get the vaccines," said Jackson Daniel, Monroe County's assistant superintendent for support services.

The school system plans to schedule the clinics as soon as an adequate supply is made available to the health department and the schools, the release said.

"However, Monroe County School officials do acknowledge that parents may choose to obtain the flu vaccine for their child from other sources and recommends they not delay securing vaccines," according to the release.

The delay also affects the vaccine program for school system employees.

The school-based clinics are a partnership with the Monroe County Health Department and the North Central Health District.

Stuckart added that the nasal mist is an option for students at all the counties in the North Central district, which covers most of Middle Georgia, including Bibb, Peach, Houston, Monroe, Jones, Crawford, Twiggs and Baldwin counties.

"All of the counties utilize the mist," she said, noting that both the mist and shot are generally presented as options. "The parents have a choice of which one."

Houston County already has vaccinated 362 students, some of which got a mist vaccine from the limited supply sent to each county. Other counties elected to hold off on mist vaccines until a full supply is available.

"Everybody had a very limited amount of mist, and pretty much across the board, we're out of mist," Stuckart said.

Bibb County has been giving out vaccines all week and will continue to do so next week, but the type of vaccine used depends on the supply from the health department, said Stephanie Hartley, the district's communications coordinator.

In Monroe County, most of the students used the mist in the past, except for those who suffer from conditions like asthma or diabetes that won't allow them to be exposed to the "live but not real active" virus in the mist, said head nurse Leigh Grant. Teachers also use the injection, but the Monroe County Health Department hasn't received enough of the injections designated for schools to cover everyone.

"Their hands are tied, so they are waiting for enough of their school-based injectables," Grant said.

Regardless of a child's insurance status, the vaccine is free for students through the school. Because of that and the convenience, nearly 1,000 students were vaccinated in Monroe County schools last year.

With the current delay in the mist vaccines, Grant said the chances of the flu spreading through classes and higher absenteeism have increased, regardless of efforts to send sick children home.

"They come to school, and you don't always know they're sick initially," she said.

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559. To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitternote>.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Nationwide flu vaccine delay affecting Middle Georgia schools ."