The director of education of the Rainbow District School Board says the board will be appealing to the province for compensation for the extra costs it will incur because of the mass immunization of area elementary schoolchildren against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus.

Jean Hanson said the school board  is paying for buses to transport children to vaccination clinics, which are being held at certain schools. The clinics are due to start Nov. 18 and last until Dec. 2.

She's not sure right now exactly how much the vaccination program and other measures taken because of the H1N1 outbreak will cost the school board, because the number is a “moving target.”

“It has yet to be determined (who will pay for the vaccination program costs incurred by school boards). We are appealing to the province to provide us with additional funds,” Hanson said.

“There has been additional costs associated not just with the immunization clinics, but with the school cleaning program (during the H1N1 outbreak).”

According to the Globe and Mail, $1.51 billion has already been spent to vaccinate Canadians against H1N1, and that number could easily climb above $2 billion.

The Sudbury and District Health Unit announced last week it was expanding its H1N1 vaccination priority group to include healthy children five to 14 years old and people 65 and older with underlying health conditions.

Hanson said the school-based vaccination program is a “logistical challenge” for the school boards.

“Consent forms have been sent home, buses have been ordered. Where the clinic is in the child's own school, of course, the challenge is not that great,” Hanson said.

“We commend the health unit for making the immunization available to children. That is, at the end of the day, what is important - that the children of this community have access to immunization.”

At the height of the H1N1 outbreak, about 30 per cent of the students at the board's high schools were off sick, and 20 per cent were off sick from the elementary schools. Those numbers have decreased over the last two weeks, Hanson said.

“We hope it continues to be that way, but as I understand it, we're not able to predict what the future may look like,” she said.

Click here  for a schedule of in-school vaccination clinics.

Vaccination program for school-aged children

• Only children in JK to Grade 8 will be able to receive the H1N1 flu vaccine at the school-based clinics
• Children who have already received their first dose of the H1N1 flu vaccine cannot receive their second dose at a school-based clinic
  • Appointments for second doses can be made with health care providers or one of the health unit’s offices.
• Parents and guardians must sign and return consent forms distributed through the schools if they wish to have their children immunized
  • If a signed consent form is not returned, the child will not be brought to the clinic and the health unit will not vaccinate the child
• Once the details are finalized for the school-based clinics, each school will send letters to parents and guardians informing them of the designated date and location of the clinic that has been set up for their child’s school.
• In addition, the schedules will be posted on the health unit’s website at www.sdhu.com