A graduation trip appears to have led to more than three dozen junior-high school students in Taichung catching the influenza A virus this month, leaving parents questioning whether the school had been too slow in arranging for its student body to be vaccinated.
Taichung Municipal Li Ming Junior High School’s entire ninth grade went on a three-day trip to Kenting National Park that began on Oct. 19.
During the trip, several students developed a high fever, muscle pain, a cough and a runny nose.
The school said that one student went on the trip even though they had developed a cold on Oct. 18. The student was later taken to see a doctor in Pingtung County, who diagnosed a throat inflammation, and the student was asked to sit at the back of the tour bus and wear a surgical mask.
However, 33 students later began exhibiting similar symptoms, and a total of 44 were diagnosed with influenza A after returning home.
Taichung Health Bureau Director Hsu Yung-nien (徐永年) on Saturday said the school group was the first case of collective infection this year, but none of the students developed serious complications and many had recovered and were already back in school.
The school had arranged for a mass vaccination for its student body on Nov. 15.
It takes a vaccination rate of at least 70 percent in elementary and junior-high school students to achieve herd immunity, Hsu said.
With limited personnel, the bureau plans for all 343 schools in Taichung to complete their vaccination programs by Nov. 20, Hsu said, adding that as of last week, 147 elementary and 43 junior-high schools had been finished.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that of the nation’s 2.6 million students, 1.82 million (70 percent) are expected to have received government-funded vaccinations before the end of next month.
However, if parents wanted their children vaccinated sooner, they could take them to hospitals for the shots, although the shots would not be free, he said.
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