Students in Greenwood were given a free chance at flu shots.
The clinic was a part of a state wide school vaccination initiative. "More than a thousand people showed up at Greenwood High School Thursday afternoon for their chance to get a free H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine. These clinics are being held all over Sebastian County to help stop the spread of the disease.
The in-school vaccinations are free to any student within the school district.
The vaccinations are a part of Governor Beebe's health initiative and are funded by the tobacco tax.
Tonya Roberts with Sebastian County Emergency Management says starting in schools is one of the best ways to stop the disease from spreading. "Students in schools have very close contact every single day. Then they go out to their homes and other places and we know close contact is one of the easiest ways to spread flu through coughing and sneezing and water droplets so we want to protect the students from that," said Roberts.
And parents agree.
Even though the line wrapped around the school, more and more parents kept coming. "I just think it's very important they get it so they get protected against it and they don't miss days of school and don't infect other people," said parent Melissa Haney.
Greenwood was one of the first school districts in the state to host the clinic.
The vaccines will continue through the month of November and into December.
In Greenwood, students had the option of the nose spray and a shot in the arm. Roberts says they had scheduled another mass flu vaccination clinic on December 4th at Kay Rodgers Park. However due to the nationwide shortage of the flu vaccine, they had to cancel the clinic. Roberts says they will be working to reschedule the mass flu vaccination as soon as more vaccine comes available.
The clinic was a part of a state wide school vaccination initiative. "More than a thousand people showed up at Greenwood High School Thursday afternoon for their chance to get a free H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine. These clinics are being held all over Sebastian County to help stop the spread of the disease.
The in-school vaccinations are free to any student within the school district.
The vaccinations are a part of Governor Beebe's health initiative and are funded by the tobacco tax.
Tonya Roberts with Sebastian County Emergency Management says starting in schools is one of the best ways to stop the disease from spreading. "Students in schools have very close contact every single day. Then they go out to their homes and other places and we know close contact is one of the easiest ways to spread flu through coughing and sneezing and water droplets so we want to protect the students from that," said Roberts.
And parents agree.
Even though the line wrapped around the school, more and more parents kept coming. "I just think it's very important they get it so they get protected against it and they don't miss days of school and don't infect other people," said parent Melissa Haney.
Greenwood was one of the first school districts in the state to host the clinic.
The vaccines will continue through the month of November and into December.
In Greenwood, students had the option of the nose spray and a shot in the arm. Roberts says they had scheduled another mass flu vaccination clinic on December 4th at Kay Rodgers Park. However due to the nationwide shortage of the flu vaccine, they had to cancel the clinic. Roberts says they will be working to reschedule the mass flu vaccination as soon as more vaccine comes available.
