School clinics to administer the new chickenpox vaccine will be held March 9 and the weeks of March 13 and 27 in Lennox Island and Eastern District Schools.
Public health nurses will deliver the vaccine Thursday March 9, at West Royalty and Grace Christian Schools. Clinics will held the week of March 13 at Westwood, Eliot River, St. Jean's, West Kent, LM Montgomery, Prince Street, Francois Buote, Central Queens and Gulf Shore. Children attending Sherwood, Parkdale, Grand Tracadie, Tracadie Cross, Mount Stewart, Morell, Spring Park, Immanuel Christian, Fair Isle, Lennox Island, Glen Stewart and Fort Augustus will be vaccinated the week of March 27.
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.