Absences are back to normal in the Worthington City School District, but school leaders say parents should still consider H1N1 vaccinations for students in all grades and will provide a free H1N1 clinic this weekend for students who have not yet been vaccinated against the disease.

The H1N1 clinic will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, in the auxiliary gymnasium at Thomas Worthington High School, 300 W. Dublin-Granville Road.

The vaccinations are free and paperwork does not have to be completed prior to arriving at the clinic.

"We'll have all the paperwork at the clinic," said Jim McElligott, director of student support and safety. "Parents can just show up with children and complete paperwork there. It's a very simple process."

The clinic is open to all children, including those who aren't Worthington students, he said.

The nasal version of the vaccine will be available at the clinic as well as the injectable version to lessen the stress some children may experience when receiving the injections, health officials said.

The virus hit Worthington schools hard early in the fall. Absences in October 2009 spiked to 37 percent at Worthington Estates Elementary School, with 179 students failing to show up for classes.

Higher-than-normal absences also were reported in some of the other school buildings at that time.

Disinfectant protocols were heightened in Worthington schools and in most Central Ohio schools in October, especially after a 14-year-old Whitehall-area boy died of the disease that month.

Worthington school buses also were cleaned and disinfected.

McElligott said although absences now are back to normal, the Columbus Health Department, which is sponsoring the free clinic, said parents still need to vaccinate their children.

"The health department contacted us and asked us to be a venue for this clinic," he said. "We wanted to help and collaborate with them as best we could so that we could impact and protect more students.

"The health officials believe there will be a third wave of illness and said it usually shows up in January and goes through March," he said. "The inoculations are not only free but will help avoid any future problems with this disease."

The Worthington school district updates parents about flu efforts on the school Web site, worthington.k12.oh.us, in the "Parent Bulletins" section.

Health department officials said children are at the highest risk of contracting complications from the H1N1 virus, so now is the time to protect children before a third wave strikes.

Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, sore throat, fatigue and body aches.

Hand-washing for at least 20 seconds at a time and covering noses and mouths with a tissue or a sleeved elbow when coughing or sneezing are ways to prevent contracting and spreading the disease, according to the health department.