(CNSNews.com) – The Health and Human Services Department will bypass states and send doses of H1N1 vaccine directly to traditional and “non-traditional” vaccination sites, perhaps including schools, but decisions on vaccinations and school closures are still up to parents and local officials.
 
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday that school closure is “always a local decision.” She told CNSNews.com that parents would have “every opportunity” to opt out of vaccination.
 
Federal, State and Local Preparations
 
As the top health official in the country, Sebelius went to Capitol Hill to brief Congress on the progress HHS has made on the H1N1 vaccine and plans to minimize the impact of the outbreak later in the fall season by working extensively with officials at all levels of government.
 
Sebelius said to "improve efficiency," H1N1 vaccine doses would be sent directly to 90,000 vaccination sites through a “central distribution system” instead of having states divide up the vaccines as with the traditional seasonal flu shot.
 
The H1N1 vaccine will go to hospitals and health clinics, "but also (to) a number of non-traditional sites” determined by the states.
 
“Every state will be asked to develop a plan and identify the appropriate vaccination sites,” Sebelius said. Our contractor is shipping directly to those sites so there is not a glitch along the way.”
 
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Tex.), a member of the committee and a medical doctor, said in the question and answer period that he was confused about the role of federal and local officials in decisions regarding H1N1. Saying he had heard that HHS had created guidelines for school closures, he wondered who would ultimately have the authority to close schools.
 
“Who is going to be making these decisions? Is it the local folks? Is it you? Is it Secretary (Arne) Duncan from the (U.S.) Education Department? Who is going to be making these decisions?”
 
Sebelius said that the decision would never come under federal jurisdiction.

“School closures, both in the spring and now moving forward, are always a local decision that’s made at the local level,” she told Burgess.
 
“Having said that, the Centers for Disease Control has issued school guidance, and it’s just that -- guidance. (It) is what they’re seeing from the science and what they’d recommend.”
 
Vaccines for Children
 
Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex.) told Sebelius he knew the administration supported voluntary school-based vaccination programs and wondered if they would consider using schools as vaccination sites for other health problems moving forward.
 
Sebelius indicated it was likely a good idea, saying, “Certainly our leadership at the CDC feels strongly that if we are successful in using schools as partners in vaccination that that may be a creative way to enhance the vaccination take-up rate for seasonal flu and other issues.”
 
 She told Green she had experienced school-based vaccination herself as a child.

“I’m old enough that I was a part of the group with the early polio vaccine, and we got that vaccine in school,” she said. “And in this effort, we have schools that are very eager to be vaccination sites, and we think it probably will be a very good idea.”
 
Sebelius also said that she thought schools were a particularly good place to administer the vaccine.
 
“Given the age group that this virus is targeting,” she said, “we thought schools and daycare centers are very appropriate outreach sites to reach the population that we need to reach, (so) we’re working closely with the Secretary of Education and his counterparts, superintendents and governors. I think most governors are very enthusiastic about having schools be voluntary vaccination sites.”
 
According to an Associated Press-GfK poll released July 27, however, more than one-third, or 36 percent, of parents said they would be “unlikely” to give their kids permission to receive an H1N1 shot at school.
 
When CNSNews.com asked Sebelius whether parents should be concerned about the quickly approved drug being administered at schools and daycares, she said, “Well, you know, they’ll have every opportunity to look at the consent forms and get the information. What we’re trying to do is reach out to the most affected population and kids, kids are at the front of the line.”
 
The vaccine poll had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.1 percentage points and sampled 1,006 random adults nationwide.