Successful use of volunteers to conduct school-located mass influenza vaccination clinics.

Objective: To determine the feasibility of using volunteers to assist in school-located mass vaccination clinics for influenza.

Methods: A set of elementary school-based mass vaccination clinics was implemented in Carroll County, Maryland by the local health department in the 2005-2006 school year. In addition to using health department personnel, fiscal restraints necessitated using medical volunteers and lay volunteers to assist health professionals.

A pilot study of the effectiveness of a school-based influenza vaccination program.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a school-based influenza immunization program.

Methods: Pupils and their families from 3 demographically similar elementary schools participated in this pilot, unblinded, controlled intervention study. Live attenuated influenza vaccine (FluMist) was made available to all eligible pupils in 1 target school during regular school hours.