School commissions across the province now have a massive task ahead of them - vaccinating school-aged children against H1N1.
Health Minister Yves Bolduc announced Thursday the province would arrange for children to be brought to vaccination centres, but that could be a logistical nightmare, said some school officials.
"You would have to ensure that the supervisors are there, and know which children are going to be vaccinated, because from what I understand not all parents want their child to be vaccinated," said Sylvia LoBianco, vice-chairman of the English Montreal School Board.
A total of 38,000 students attend EMSB schools. School buses hold 48 students, and typically serve two schools.
Donna Manos, principal of Honore Mercier Elementary School in St. Leonard, said transporting the school's 561 students is a daunting task, particularly for students with health issues.
"We do have children who are diabetic who do have to have snacks at certain times; we have children who might not be feeling well or might be feeling anxious," said Manos.
School officials said they would prefer the vaccinations take place in the schools, but public health officials say that is not going to happen.
"We can bring the school to those sites, for efficiency making sure they get good quality control of the vaccine because it must be protected against problems of temperature - so in fact I think it's a model," said Dr. Horacio Arruda, the director of Quebec Public Health Protection.
Parents are being asked to wait to hear from their own school about individual transportation plans. School officials are still waiting on a mandate from the government.
More H1N1 deaths
Four more people have died in Quebec since Wednesday: A 21-year-old man in Laval, an 82-year-old woman in Estrie and two men aged 51 and 66 in the Monteregie. Almost 1000 Quebecers have been hospitalized with confirmed cases of H1N1, and most of those cases are children and teenagers.
