CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Swine flu clinics will be held at four different elementary schools in Kanawha County this week, in addition to a special clinic at the Health Department on Thursday that will target both pregnant women and medically fragile children, said Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta.

The first clinic is being held Tuesday at Elk Elementary Center during school hours. Children who have a signed permission slip will be able to get the vaccine during the clinic, Gupta said.

In addition, all day-care children in the nearby area who have gotten a notice from the Health Department will be able to get the shot after hours at the school from 3 to 6 p.m.

Clinics on Wednesday will be held at Bridge and Clendenin elementary schools.

On Thursday, volunteers will vaccinate children at Pinch Elementary before heading back to the Health Department on Lee Street to hold the special H1N1 clinic for medically fragile children and pregnant women, Gupta said.

"It's going to be an ongoing clinic each Thursday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Health Department," he said. "Anyone who is pregnant or for children who have muscular dystrophy, asthma, anything like that, will be able to go to the Health Department and get the vaccine."

Gupta said additional clinics could be added at the Health Department for the special groups, but he said that all depends on the demand and the amount of vaccine the Health Department receives.

"We'd have to take those vaccines away from the schools because it's all the same resources," he said.

So far, there are no clinics scheduled for Friday because the Health Department was unsure how much vaccine it would get this week and it didn't want to overschedule and have to cancel on students, Gupta said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Swine flu clinics will be held at four different elementary schools in Kanawha County this week, in addition to a special clinic at the Health Department on Thursday that will target both pregnant women and medically fragile children, said Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta.

The first clinic is being held Tuesday at Elk Elementary Center during school hours. Children who have a signed permission slip will be able to get the vaccine during the clinic, Gupta said.

In addition, all day-care children in the nearby area who have gotten a notice from the Health Department will be able to get the shot after hours at the school from 3 to 6 p.m.

Clinics on Wednesday will be held at Bridge and Clendenin elementary schools.

On Thursday, volunteers will vaccinate children at Pinch Elementary before heading back to the Health Department on Lee Street to hold the special H1N1 clinic for medically fragile children and pregnant women, Gupta said.

"It's going to be an ongoing clinic each Thursday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Health Department," he said. "Anyone who is pregnant or for children who have muscular dystrophy, asthma, anything like that, will be able to go to the Health Department and get the vaccine."

Gupta said additional clinics could be added at the Health Department for the special groups, but he said that all depends on the demand and the amount of vaccine the Health Department receives.

"We'd have to take those vaccines away from the schools because it's all the same resources," he said.

So far, there are no clinics scheduled for Friday because the Health Department was unsure how much vaccine it would get this week and it didn't want to overschedule and have to cancel on students, Gupta said.

The plan is to vaccinate all of the children in their respective school each day during the clinic, but children who have forgotten their permission slip or who are out of school for any reason the day of the clinic will be allowed to attend the special Thursday clinics at the Health Department.

In the unlikely event that clinic volunteers will not be able to inoculate every student who wants the vaccine before school is dismissed, children will be allowed to come back during the day-care clinics after hours to get the shot.

"We'll get them all, don't worry," he said.

The Health Department has received about 2,000 doses of the vaccine this week. Gupta said he expected more than 50 percent of the children at each school will get the vaccination.

Next week, Gupta is hoping that if enough vaccine is available, the Health Department will be able to send several teams out at a time to vaccinate students in two, three or even four different schools in one day.

"We won't be going school to school," he said. "We'll be simultaneously doing them with multiple teams and schools."

While all of the clinics so far are being held at public schools, Gupta said that Health Department is working to get children at private schools vaccinated as well.

"People can rest assured that we're going to get something done," he said.

Reach Kathryn Gregory at kathr...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5119.