John Watson ’12
Staff Writer awaits his flu shot; Teachers congregate around the nurses' office to receive additional flu shots. |Annie Nelson '11 “]

Escalating concern about this year’s flu season prompted a huge turnout of faculty and staff for their yearly inoculation.

There was standing room only in the nurse’s suite at Staples High School for teacher seeking the vaccine on Oct. 6.

137 teachers were inoculated with the vaccine, which was administered by the Occupational Health Services of Norwalk Hospital. The hospital stepped in at the last minute when another health agency backed out.

Nursing Supervisor Nadine Schwab believes that the high number of teachers seeking inoculation this year is in part due to the nervousness concerning two flus: the regular seasonal flu and the much-feared H1N1 virus.

Though the vaccine given to the teachers at school was only for the normal flu, several teachers have expressed interest in getting the Swine Flu vaccine, which will not be administrated at Staples.

“Swine flu is going to impact all our medical facilities, and I don’t want to be one of the people affected,” said Jim Honeycutt, one of the teachers who was inoculated on the 6^th.

The nurse’s office was packed with teachers seeking the vaccine. “The flu shot clinic was like a faculty party at the Southport Brewing Company. We were all talking and socializing, no one wanted to leave,” Honeycutt said.