I am not getting the H1N1 vaccination this year.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm a firm believer in getting the seasonal flu shot. I've been doing so for over 20 years. But I won't be needing the H1N1 shot because I contracted the swine flu last week, and am still recovering.

While thousands stood in line to receive the vaccine -- the high priority cases -- I was patiently waiting my turn to also get in the long line.

I've been a teacher for over 30 years and am somewhat puzzled by the fact that teachers are not considered a "front line" group. I teach kindergarten and believe me when I say my classroom is a petri dish of germs. We are in the front lines long before many doctors and nurses see their patients.

Teachers are consistently exposed to a variety of illnesses and we send children home from school on a daily basis. Many are sent to school unwell or come down with an illness during the day. And these sick students wait in our care at school -- sometimes for hours -- while parents come from work to pick then up. I consider teachers an "at-risk" group. Wouldn't you?

We could have alleviated long lineups by holding flu-shot clinics in the schools for teachers, children and their families. This would have been a far better idea than parents taking children out of school to stand in eight-hour long lineups.

That way the elderly and other high-risk individuals who probably have difficulty standing in line to begin with, would not have to go through such a grueling ordeal.

One gentlemen wrote a letter to McLean's stating that he'd heard the swine flu has mild symptoms, and was not even as bad as the seasonal flu. I guess he hasn't had it yet. Take it from me, this flu bug is nasty. If you can avoid contracting it by getting the flu shot, do it.

The silver lining for me is, now I won't have to get in any long lineups.

This vaccination is the responsible thing to do. We owe it to ourselves and to those we come in contact with every day.

I am writing this column in memory of a dear friend who passed away about six weeks ago from the H1N1 virus. He was principal of an international school overseas -- a healthy male in his 50s. Alan, you will be missed.