Arnold's Cove students protest H1N1 shot delay
Last Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009 | 4:01 PM NT
CBC News
Students angered that they still haven't received the H1N1 vaccination protested on Thursday outside their school in Arnold's Cove, on the province's east coast.
The protest at Tricentia Academy involved about 75 students, more than 20 per cent of the school's enrolment.
Grade 12 student Kaitlin Clarke said it's unfair that she and other students in the K-12 school have yet to receive a shot to fight swine flu, while others, including inmates at the prison in St. John's, have.
"Prisoners who are not within the target group were vaccinated long before people who are within the target group were even allowed access to the inoculations," she said. "We're saying the chances of coming in contact with the H1N1 virus — we have more chances at school than they do."
Tricentia Academy doubles as a community vaccination site, and Clark said having so many people inside the building getting flu shots only increases the students' risk of contracting the virus.
Health officials started giving the shot to students from kindergarten to Grade 3 on Thursday, saying more students will be vaccinated as the nation-wide shortage of the vaccine eases.
