Letter to the Editor

I would like to respond to the article in the Sept. 4 edition of The Colonnade entitled “Free shots! Happy hour or the flu?” by Elizabeth Rawlins. I understand that the article was focusing on the idea of a universal health plan, but I would like to clarify some information alluded to in the article.

The Student Health Clinic offered free flu shots to students this year in an attempt to get more students to take the vaccine. As indicated in Rawlins’ article, few students have asked for the flu shot in the past. The flu vaccine being given is to protect against seasonal flu, not the H1N1 (swine-related flu). The seasonal flu usually develops during the winter months, so giving this vaccine before flu season allows the body time to develop immunities to potential viruses that may cause the illness. The flu vaccine was never advertised as a vaccine to prevent H1N1 flu and, in fact, that vaccine is still in the testing phase and has not yet been released for use.

The idea of more people getting the seasonal flu vaccine is to prevent a large outbreak when seasonal flu does occur. The Centers for Disease Control Prevention and the World Health Organization are concerned that people could develop both seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu, and no one knows exactly how that would affect a person. Thus, the push this year is to vaccinate as many people as possible with seasonal flu vaccine to prevent as much illness as possible.

The good news about the H1N1 flu is that most cases have caused mild illness. There have been deaths associated with the virus across the world, but there have been many fewer deaths than usually seen with seasonal flu. No one knows when the H1N1 virus will disappear, but hopefully it will abate. When the H1N1 vaccine is released for public use, we hope to receive some through the district health department to administer on campus.

While Rawlins thought the idea of giving free flu shots to students was “quite humorous,” the clinic staff felt it a prudent decision this year. While we may order a few less brochures or other supportive materials, we feel the investment in the flu shot was a wise decision.

Alice Loper, FNP-C
Director, Health Services

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 18 2009. Filed under Letters to the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry