School clinics to administer the new chickenpox vaccine will be held during March at elementary and consolidated schools in Summerside, Borden, Kinkora, Kensington and Wellington.
Public health nurses will deliver the vaccine Thursday, March 2 at Amherst Cove and Miscouche Consolidated and Somerset Elementary schools. Clinics will be Monday, March 6th at Greenfield and Parkside Elementary, Athena Consolidated and École Évangéline. Children attending Elm Street and Queen Elizabeth Elementary will be vaccinated Tuesday, March 7.
The vaccine will be administered to children in grades one to six who have not had the chickenpox. There is no charge to receive the vaccine, but consent forms are required.
These are one- time clinics for this vaccine, and they will not be offered in the schools again.
Chief Health Officer, Dr. Lamont Sweet advised that chickenpox is usually a mild, highly contagious disease which almost every child will catch. However, chickenpox results in complications in one in 20 people who become ill with the disease and can result in birth defects if a mother catches the illness during pregnancy.
"Chickenpox not only causes illness but also results in a loss of time from work for a parent," he said.
The Department of Health and Social Services encourages parents to have their children immunized against chickenpox before they become adults.