SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST SCHOOL
19 Chestnut Street
Peabody, Massachusetts 01960
Phone: 978-531-0444
Fax: 978-531-3569
www.stjohns-peabody.com
October 3 2016:
Dear Parents and Guardians:
This year, the influenza virus is expected to be circulating in Massachusetts throughout the fall and winter and into the spring of the next year. Influenza can cause serious illness and can result in missed days of school and work. Vaccination is the best way to protect your child from this potentially serious disease.
In order to ensure that every school-aged child has the opportunity to receive the flu vaccine and to make it convenient for parents, St. John the Baptist School will be offering the flu vaccine at school to students, faculty and staff on Monday October 24 2016.
To receive the vaccine please download the consent form from the school website, sign the form and return all paperwork to the school nurse on or before Friday October 14th. If you are unable to download or print the form they will be available in the health office, please call the health office and one of the nurses will send the consent form home via child post. The consent form is 2 sided, please fill out the front and back. Please include the student’s health insurance information. However, if a student does not have insurance, the vaccination will still be provided free of charge. There is a Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS) sheet and a Vaccine Information Statement sheet available for you to read. Please be mindful that if completed forms are not returned we will not be able to give the vaccination. If your child is absent on Monday October 24th, your child will not be vaccinated at school. Please follow up with your child’s pediatrician.
Please note-only the injectable type of flu vaccine (the shot that goes in the arm) will be available this year. This is true whether your child gets vaccinated at school or at the doctor’s office. The “Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted earlier this year that live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), also known as the “nasal spray” flu vaccine, should not be used during the 2016-2017 flu season. ACIP continues to recommend annual flu vaccination, with either the inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) or recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV), for everyone 6 months and older.” For more information on this decision: http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/s0622-laiv-flu.html.
Massachusetts has an electronic database called the Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS) for all immunization records and your child’s flu vaccination will be entered into this database. There is more information about the MIIS on the school website. During flu season we would like to remind you and your child to continue to wash hands, cover coughs and sneezes and stay home from school if sick. Please visit www.mass.gov/dph/flu for more information on important prevention measures that you can take to help keep your family healthy.
If you have any questions about the vaccination please contact the school nurse, 1-978-531-0444 x 319.
Sincerely
Lisa Hollis MSN RN and Elizabeth Amebeliotis RN