With a deadly flu epidemic raging this winter the Jacksonville-area provider of flu vaccinations in schools will hold a mid-season clinic for several school districts.
Healthy Schools, founded by former Jacksonville Jaguars player Tony Boselli, will be hosting last-minute flu shot clinics in Clay and Duval counties starting Monday for students to receive free flu vaccines.
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If a student has not yet received a flu shot, it is still beneficial to get one this season.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local school officials are recommending that all school age children get a flu shot to prevent or lessen the severity or duration of the flu.
This year’s flu virus, the H3N3, is unusually deadly and has claimed several lives of otherwise healthy children and adults who otherwise do not fit the pattern of the typical flu deaths -- namely the immunocompromised, elderly and infants.
It's estimated that 80 percent to 90 percent of children who die from the flu did not have a flu shot.
“We are making sure that any child who needs a flu shot will get one. Its that simple,” Boselli said. “There is a special urgency due to this year’s serious flu epidemic and Healthy Schools is happy and ready to meet that demand. Please bring your child to one of our clinics next week if you haven’t gotten a shot.”
Boselli established Healthy Schools when he realized just how often students miss out on valuable classroom time when they are home with the flu.
On top of missing school, kids bring the flu home to parents and siblings, causing them to miss work at inopportune times.
Knowing a majority of families can’t afford to stay home, he wanted to create an easy way to get children flu shots and turn them into “Health Heroes.”
Through relationships with vaccine manufacturers and contracts with major insurers and Medicaid, Healthy Schools has created a way to make sure any child can receive a vaccination regardless of whether they are insured.
Healthy Schools partners with Caredox, a digital health platform used by over 4000 school districts to manage medical and immunization records. The combined partnership makes flu vaccination efforts -- even the emergency clinics like those next week -- an easy, portable turn key solution for school districts.
Parents have an option of signing up their child to receive a flu shot in the schools where Healthy Schools runs vaccine programs. Each year, Healthy Schools holds a vaccination drive and enrollment in October when flu shots are recommended.
At the request of school officials and county health officials, Healthy Schools is holding secondary clinics this year because of the urgency of the epidemic.
Parents or guardians in Duval and Clay counties can sign up online to receive a vaccination at the Healthy Schools community clinics by going to schoolflushot.com/clay or schoolflushot.com/duval, or can sign up at the clinics themselves.
The schedule and locations for the clinics are as follows:
Duval County
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 13)
First Coast High
590 Duval Station Road
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 13)
Mandarin High
4831 Greenland Road
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 15)
Westside High
5530 Firestone Road
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 15)
Fletcher High
700 Seagate Ave.
Neptune Beach
Clay County
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday (Feb. 12)
Orange Park High School
300 Kingsley Ave.
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 15)
Keystone Heights High School
900 Orchid Ave.
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 17)
Clay Department of Health
1345 Idlewild Ave.
Green Cove Springs