Schools Help Shoo the Flu
School district and individual school support is a key piece of the equation to bring school-based influenza vaccines to students. In partnership with local healthcare authorities and providers, together you can help achieve shared goals of healthy students, better attendance, and fewer influenza cases in the greater community.
Reasons to Vaccinate
It’s no secret, the benefits of influenza vaccination help the whole community. It’s the best defense we’ve got against influenza. Plus, it can help:
- Better attendance. Students stay healthy, which means fewer sick days home from school.
- Lesson plans stay on track. Better attendance helps more students keep up with their studies.
- Teachers stay healthy, too. With less exposure to sick students, your risk of influenza decreases.
How School-Based Influenza Vaccines Work
(Hint: only with your help!)
It’s easy to help a school-based influenza vaccine program go smoothly at your school. At the start of the school year, teachers receive instructions about how to distribute and collect consent forms from their students. Consent forms are available in six languages: English, Arabic, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese.
The steps from there are simple:
- Download and review talking points to understand the program.
- Distribute consent forms to students. Download extra consent forms.
- Distribute teacher envelopes for teachers to collect students’ signed consent forms.
- Set up the provided collection box to collect teacher envelopes. (Please keep in a visible place in the front office.)
- Have fun with Shoo the Flu.
- The Shoo the Flu Toolkit has sample lesson plans and activities to talk about how to prevent the flu and other illnesses.
- Download coloring pages for your students and put up the provided posters around campus.
What to Expect During Shoo the Flu Days
Exact details will vary among programs and between schools, but the goal everywhere is to get students vaccinated safely, efficiently and without any unnecessary disruption to the school day.
- School-based vaccination clinics (we call them Flu Vaccine Days) take place in the Fall before influenza season and are set up in a large area such as a multi-purpose room, gym or empty classroom.
- Teachers are asked to help confirm the identity of students prior to leaving the classroom and volunteers provided by the school will help bring students to the vaccination area by classroom.
- The influenza vaccine program is free and completely voluntary. Parent/Guardian consent is required for all students.
- Only nurses, supervised nursing students, or other trained healthcare professionals as allowed by your state may vaccinate students.
- Parents/Guardians and healthcare providers are notified of their student’s vaccination that day.
- The whole process should take only about 20 minutes per classroom.