In New Hampshire, accessing routine healthcare, particularly pediatric healthcare, can be incredibly difficult for working families. We continue to see long wait times for pediatric appointments, pharmacies that are overburdened or closing their doors, and significant travel time from rural areas to provider offices. Come flu season, families who are interested in getting flu vaccines for their children have limited options. A child would miss, at minimum, several hours of their school day to get a flu vaccine with their primary care provider, and a parent/guardian would likely have to miss work for this appointment.

As a solution to the barriers surrounding accessing pediatric flu vaccination, many regions of New Hampshire have offered annual school-based flu clinics which are free to families. A team of medical professionals will set up a mobile vaccination clinic in a school during the school day. Parents who would like their child to receive a flu vaccine submit a vaccination consent form, and their child is very briefly removed from class to get their flu shot. School-based flu clinics are strictly opt-in, and only children who have had a consent form submitted by their parents will attend the clinic.

Since 2013, nearly 75,000 children have received their flu vaccine at a school-based vaccination clinic in New Hampshire. This approach to flu vaccination focuses on reducing the amount of class time children are missing, and eliminating some of the barriers working families face when accessing routine pediatric care.

House Bill 1449 directly targets the school-based flu clinic program and seeks to both ban vaccination clinics from schools, and mandate that a parent/guardian be physically present with a child to receive a vaccine, i.e., eliminating the use of consent forms as a method of parental approval. The families taking advantage of the school-based flu clinic program value this rare occasion of convenience being offered to them, and know that their child is receiving care from a team of medical professionals in a familiar and comforting setting.

Participation in school-based flu clinics is strictly opt-in, so families that are not interested in having their child receive a flu vaccine, or wish to get the vaccine in a different setting, are completely unaffected if a school-based clinic takes place in their child’s school. Banning this program will only harm families that rely on it year after year to reduce the burden of seeking routine healthcare for their children.

New Hampshire residents believe school-based clinics are important, too. Nearly 80 percent of Granite Staters are concerned that placing restrictions on school vaccination clinics could lead to declining vaccination rates and ultimately to outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles, whooping cough, or polio. Nearly three quarters believe those restrictions would directly result in fewer children being vaccinated.  Throughout the state, Granite Staters recognize the importance of meeting children and families where they are to ensure they have access to vaccines. 

I am urging our legislators to show their commitment to working families by allowing school-based clinics to continue being offered as a low barrier pediatric flu vaccination opportunity. Vaccination clinics during the school day greatly reduce the time that a student spends out of class and prevents a parent/guardian from missing work for a pediatric provider appointment. The school setting has proven to be a safe and supportive environment for children who may fear the doctor’s office or vaccination. Opposing HB 1449 will preserve a critical low barrier pediatric healthcare program, and ease the burden of accessing routine healthcare for working families.

Sara Schleef is public health emergency preparedness coordinator for the Greater Sullivan County Regional Public Health Network.