Horry County Schools started voluntary H1N1 flu vaccinations Monday at four of the district's elementary schools, including Aynor Elementary, Midland Elementary, South Conway Elementary and Pee Dee Elementary.

Letters and permission slips were sent to parents of students at those schools at the end of October, and only students with signed slips were allowed to get the vaccination. For younger children, parents were and will be given the option of being there when the vaccinations are given. The clinics will run until 6 p.m. to give parents who work during the day the chance to be present at the school when their child receives the vaccine.

At the schools scheduled for clinics this week, about 60 percent of parents opted to have their children vaccinated, said Horry County Schools spokeswoman Teal Britton. She did not have a districtwide percentage because permission slips are being sent in rounds as the schools are scheduled to hold the vaccination clinics. Each school will only have one clinic, but clinics are scheduled through mid-December. The clinics are hosted, and the vaccinations are being given by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

DHEC has scheduled clinics with many of the school districts throughout the state. The Georgetown County School District began its program last week and will continue as vaccinations become available. The deadline to return permission slips has passed for Georgetown County schools, and according to numbers released last week, about a third of the Georgetown district's students signed up to receive the vaccine.