A local public health organization is expected to get nearly $115,000 in stimulus grants to help area schools immunize for the influenza season.

Made available through the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Disease Control, Laverack said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant will be spread over 22 months and will be used to help local school districts with immunization programs for all types of flu — including the H1N1 or swine flu expected to strike this school year. The funding needs to be approved by the Executive Council.

"We have received some money for the 'coordination of vaccinations,' said Susan Laverack, the associate director of Lakes Region Partnership for Public Health.

Today marks the first day of school for most of the Lakes Region — Shaker Regional School District students returned last week — and both national and state public health officials have said there will most likely be a significant outbreak of both types of flu.

"We have sent letters to parents and posted information on our Website," Superintendent Michael Cozort said.

"We are just going to have to take it week by week," said Cozort, who added that his district has been working with the Lakes Region Partnership and the DHHS.

He said the schools have added hand sanitizers in classrooms but said handwashing is the best defense against the spread of any flu virus, including H1N1.

Cozort said he supports the effort of the partnership to immunize those students whose parents want it.

"People are not going to be mandated to get these immunizations," said Laverack, who noted that the H1N1 vaccine is not scheduled to be available until October or November at the earliest.

Last Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said a massive school closing wouldn't stop the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, adding that vaccinations must be the defense against a menace that one report said could infect up to half of the population.

"What we know is that we have the virus right now traveling around the United States," Sebelius said in a nationally broadcast interview on Aug. 25. "...And having children in a learning situation is beneficial ... What we learned last spring is that shutting a school down sort of pre-emptively doesn't stop the virus from spreading."

In addition, also pending approval by the governor and council in September, the Lakes Region Partnership will receive $42,495 for an eight-month H1N1 program — money to be made available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Emergency Response and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Pandemic Influenza Healthcare Preparedness Improvements for States.

Laverack said a portion of this money must be used to develop a medical reserve corps that would purchase limited supplies or regional caches for acute care centers in the event of widespread immunizations.