Amid a flu outbreak in at least one Utah school this week, districts throughout the state have been planning how they'll immunize children against the H1N1 swine flu virus.

The vaccines could arrive in Utah as early as the first week of October, and children are a top vaccination priority, said Pamela Davenport, a spokeswoman for the Salt Lake Valley Health Department. Many school districts likely will vaccinate children during the school day while others plan to give the shots after school. Vaccinations will be voluntary.

"[Children] seem to be some of the hardest hit by the H1N1 virus, so they are a priority," Davenport said.

This week, Uintah High School in Vernal postponed two football games and other activities, canceling some, after nearly 250 students -- about one-fifth of the school -- were absent one day, many of them with flu-like symptoms, said principal Julie Wilde. The school is not aware of any confirmed cases of H1N1 flu, but doctors are not testing people for the virus as widely as they were in the spring.

Schools and health departments statewide hope to avoid similar outbreaks by vaccinating students. Local health departments are working with school districts to form tentative plans of how to distribute the vaccines once they arrive, depending on how many arrive.

Davenport said many Salt Lake County schools may vaccinate students during the school day.

"We want to cause the least amount of disruption

She said the Salt Lake Valley Health Department estimates an entire elementary school could be vaccinated in about two hours with the help of contract nurses. Parents would be notified of the vaccinations and asked for permission before the vaccinations were given.

The Jordan School District anticipates administering the vaccines during the school day but is still working on a plan, said Steve Dunham, a district spokesman. The Davis School District also will likely give the vaccines during the school day to students whose parents sign releases, said Scott Zigich, a risk manager for the Davis district. He said the vaccines likely will be given one class at a time, as privately as possible.

"Currently, we think this would be the most effective way to administer the vaccine," Zigich said. "Mom and dad wouldn't have to come take off of work or come after school hours." But he added that parents will be welcome to be with their children as they're vaccinated if they choose.

The Alpine School District, however, probably will take a different approach. The district plans to work with its county health department to set up clinics after school.

Rhonda Bromley, a spokeswoman for the Alpine District, said the district and local health department are hoping to give the vaccines in mid- or late October.

"There are going to be people who choose not to have their children participate in this, so we decided rather than have opt-out forms or student participation forms, it would just be available to anyone who wants to do it," Bromley said. "We would not be taking academic time out of school to do it."

The Canyons School District has not yet decided how vaccines might be administered, a district spokeswoman said. Attempts to reach Granite and Salt Lake City school district officials Friday were unsuccessful.

Cyndi Bemis, a spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Health, said people ages 6 months to age 24, pregnant women, people who live with children 6 months old and younger and people ages 25 to 64 with underlying health conditions such as asthma will be priorities when it comes to distributing the vaccine. She said it's not yet clear how many doses of the vaccine Utah will get, but the she expects the state will start receiving the vaccines mid-October and will get about 1 percent of however many vaccines are produced nationally, a reflection of Utah's share of the U.S. population. The ultimate goal, she said, is for each state to be able to vaccinate about half its population.

Wilde said absenteeism at Uintah High decreased Friday -- to 225 students were absent -- and she's hoping the weekend will further slow the spread of illness.

lschencker@sltrib.com