Enough H1N1 vaccine to share

    Vaccine shortages and the seemingly random distribution of the swine flu shot has some people stumped. But one Montgomery County school has more than enough vaccine.

    Vaccine shortages and the seemingly random distribution of the swine flu shot has some people stumped. But one Montgomery County school has more than enough vaccine.

    Listen: [audio:091117teschool.mp3]

    Slightly more than 60 percent of the 1,100 students at Germantown Academy have been immunized against the H1N1 flu. While other schools across the region are waiting for their supplies, the academy got its shipment a month ago. James Connor is Head of School.

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    Connor: We’re not sure why we got it so early, our school nurse was out there really early last summer, exploring all of this, so may be we were, sort of, first in line.

    A Pennsylvania Department of Health spokeswoman says the distribution process is generally first come, first served. Germantown’s school nurse says her team was diligent about filling out the required paperwork to qualify as a distribution site.

    At-risk adults at Germantown also got the vaccine, and the academy shared doses with its sister school in North Philadelphia.

    Lori Andress is the school nurse at Germantown Academy.

    Andress:
    So we registered to say we were interested. Then the next step was to register how many students were enrolled, how many faculty were enrolled in the school and then the third step was the actual order of the shipment.

    Germantown got its shipment in mid-October. The academy also shared vaccine with a local doctor who has some high-risk patients.

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