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County and School Officials Prepare for Swine Flu Season

County and School Officials Prepare for Swine Flu Season
Officials from San Diego's largest school districts met today with county health officials to discuss ways to combat the swine flu.

Officials from San Diego's largest school districts met today with county health officials to discuss ways to combat the swine flu.

The H1N1 virus has made planning for the coming flu season more urgent. And one of the measures under serious consideration is giving kids flu shots at school. Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county health officer, said she got her flu vaccinations from the school nurse when she was growing up. But it's been decades since that's been a widespread practice in San Diego. She says, while school-site flu shots would help slow the spread of swine flu, there are some challenges to doing it.

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"The two issues would be...getting parents' permission to do this," said Wooten, "and the second major factor would be getting enough manpower to provide the vaccines."

Wooten said under current school closure policy, schools will remain open until they experience 30 percent absenteeism, due to the flu.