The city began protecting one of its most vulnerable populations, school-aged children, against the H1N1 flu virus last Wednesday with no reported issues by the Health Department. 

About 40 students were vaccinated at PS 51, the Bronx New School in Bedford Park, according to Principal Paul Smith. 

“It went really well,” Smith said.

PS 51, along with 125 other elementary schools citywide (25 of which are in the Bronx), was part of the first phase of the city’s plan to offer free vaccines to all school-aged children. Public elementary schools with populations of less than 400 students are all a part of Phase One. The second phase of the strategy was scheduled to begin Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the majority of schools with a population of 600 or larger. The final phase will be implemented in all remaining schools on Nov. 9. 

The program will last approximately eight weeks and require signed parental consent forms, according to the Health Department. 

The Health Department’s goal is to vaccinate between 30 and 50 percent of elementary school students. The rest, they hope, will look to their primary care physician for inoculation.

A little less than 15 percent of the News School’s 283 students returned the required consent forms for vaccination. But Smith doesn’t credit that to a lack of parent concern or knowledge. 

“Parents have been listening to the news,” he said. “They’re pretty savvy. It’s up to their discretion.”

 Smith said parents are more relaxed and knowledgeable since last spring’s city-wide outbreak. “People are doing the prerequisites like washing their hands,” he said.

Middle and high school students have the option of being vaccinated at weekend clinics in all five boroughs. The locations as well as consent forms in 10 languages can be found on the of Health Department’s Web site, nyc.gov/flu.