FRANKLIN COUNTY –- In a letter submitted to superintendents, heads of private schools and school nurses, Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and Dora Mills Director of the Maine Center of Disease Control provided flu vaccine news for local schools.

Together they announced on Sept. 22 that the delivery of the seasonal flu vaccine is now delayed. This is due to a shortage of supply and any schoolrun clinics that were planned will need to be postponed. School nurses across MSAD #58 had planned on starting offering preventative shots this week.

It is now anticipated that the seasonal vaccines will arrive in local schools in mid- to late-October or November.

The letter said that they thought the delivery would be accelerated, but due to the prioritization of developing and manufacturing the H1N1 vaccine and other challenges, the balance of shipments are being delayed.

“This delay is being felt across the country, and other states are in the process of postponing large-scale seasonal flu vaccine clinics,” they said.

The MCDC states they’ve received about 40 percent of the overall supplies to date and expect the balance to arrive in about four to six weeks.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to ship all schools across the country enough of the seasonal flu vaccine and the newly developed H1N1 immunization for every student in the nation. The shots will be free of charge.

The clinics are optional for students and immunization for the regular seasonal flue and/or preventative measures of the H1N1 pandemic is not mandatory. The seasonal flu vaccine will not work to prevent the swine-like H1N1 influenza.

The alert stated that the H1N1 vaccines should arrive at about the same time as the delayed seasonal flu vaccines and schools facing the postponed delivery should consider offering both immunizations at the same time. The recommendation is a suggestion to save time and money for local communities.

Younger children may need two H1N1 shots to combat the threat. The second shot should be administered about four weeks later.

The U.S. CDC and the MCDC recommends that most all children should get immunized for the seasonal flu and the potential threat of H1N1.