When my 3-year old daughter came down with the H1N1 virus this week, my 6-year old son asked if she had “swine flu”. This was the first indicator to me that the flu has hit the fan. My son, being much more interested in the fact Comcast now has LegoTV for the holidays, actually knew that there was a serious illness running rampant in school and now it was hitting home. My son made a point of saying, “I hope she doesn’t have swine flu, Mommy. I don’t want her to be very sick.” Then, “does she have to get a flu shot?” His statement was another sign that he was well aware of the pandemic.

In Richmond, VA, the city schools have begun an aggressive campaign against the H1N1 virus by starting the process of vaccinating all the children in the school district. The only problem? Availability of the vaccine.

After sending letters home and permission forms to sign, the school district had to delay their vaccination program by two weeks because the vaccine ran out. In the meantime, the virus was spreading and so was the rumor mill. Stories of who had it and who got it from whom were already being whispered as though student pipeline.

Thankfully, this week, however, the vaccines came in and the program started up again. Although the vaccine will not be effective for 10 more days, at least the children can focus on being protected, being safe, and learning with the only exception of the children like mine who are allergic to ingredients in the flu shot and, therefore, could not receive the vaccine.

Unfortunately, this has not escaped the notice of my son and his friends. While he is happy not to have to suffer a shot, he is unusually worried about getting sick. (It took merely 48 hours for us to work our way though a bottle of antibacterial hand gel that had been sitting, untouched, in the kitchen for 4 months.)

The good news is that my daughter got prompt care and, after only 2 days of Tamiflu, is clearly on the mend without complications and without ever getting really sick. This is a sigh of relief for both me and my son. Things are already getting back to normal. A storm in a teakettle is all it turned out to be for us.