City Unveils Fall Swine Flu Plan

New York, NY —

If swine flu comes roaring back this fall and winter, schools will turn into vaccination hubs, nurses will staff the 311 call center, and New Yorkers will be discouraged from heading to emergency rooms, unless they’re very, very sick. The city yesterday rolled out a new plan for coping with H1N1. WNYC’s Fred Mogul reports.

REPORTER: Mayor Bloomberg and health officials say they expect swine flu to be mild, even if it spreads quickly, but they’re also bracing for the worst. That includes developing a plan to give children vaccines in all public and private elementary schools, as well as in select middle and high schools. The swine flu vaccine is not yet available, but the city hopes to get 1.2 million doses by mid-October, with another half-million doses a week after that. Immunizing children would be voluntary – though a new state law requires all hospital workers get vaccinated. Bloomberg reiterated that the city generally will not be closing schools, even if many students are ill. But he and Chancellor Joel Klein say closure is still an option for schools with a high proportion of “medically vulnerable” students.

The city will also have a new web page with daily updates on swine flu: nyc.gov/flu. And if enough people get the illness, the city will activate a corps of nurses to answer calls on the 311 system, to help guide whether they should go to doctors’ offices, health clinics or emergency rooms.