Swine flu jab for school children

THE VACCINE against swine flu will be extended to France’s five million school children from today.

Parents of collégiens and lycéens should have received a bon de vaccination in the post, or will do in the coming days.

Secondary pupils will get the jab in school, but will need to bring the voucher and the enclosed consent form, signed by a parent.

Primary school pupils can be vaccinated from December 1. They will not get the jab in school – instead parents will have to take them to one of the 1,000 vaccination centres around France.

A list of all the centres can be found at this website.

According to the Health Ministry, 305,000 people have been vaccinated against swine flu so far. The jab was offered first to medical staff, pregnant women, the elderly and other at-risk groups.

The World Health Organisation says side effects from the jab are rare – one problem out of every 100,000 vaccines.