Lewis County Public Health officials unveiled plans Monday to take the H1N1 vaccine directly to schools.

    Department Director Danette York told the Lewis County Health Board during its regular meeting at the county courthouse in Chehalis that a combination of staff and volunteers will visit each Lewis County school beginning in November.

    Students will have to have a consent form signed to receive the vaccine, which will be delivered in a shot rather than the mist that is being distributed elsewhere.

    York is encouraging all residents to seek the vaccine from their primary health care provider before pursuing assistance from the county. The first rounds of the vaccine are expected to be delivered to pre-registered providers this week or next, she said.

    The next round will be focused on pediatrics, with the school clinic effort beginning in the first or second week of November.

    She said the goal of her department is to help vaccinate those in the priority group — the elderly and those younger than 24 — that otherwise would not have access to the vaccine.

    “We need to be the entity that picks up and fills in the gaps,” she said.

    York said the first round of vaccines, expected this week or next, will be delivered to health care providers for dispersal. The second round will be used to vaccinate children.

    Along with one county nurse, she said Centralia College Nursing Program students will also assist with the effort once it’s under way. A state grant approved by the board Monday will also allow the department to hire another nurse to help deliver the vaccines.

    Lewis County Public Health Officer Rachel Wood said that school superintendents have all agreed to the upcoming clinics and that the department will focus its efforts on outlying areas first, working their way in to the Twin Cities.

    The first vaccine, which will be delivered to health care providers, will be in the form of FluMist, a live attenuated virus that is given as a nasal spray. The next vaccines will include injectable doses.

    Eric Schwartz: (360) 807-8245