College is in full swing. Football season is back. The weather is starting to change. And it’s cold and flu season.
“Flu kills more people every year than AIDS does,” Keith Williamson, MWSU medical director said. “Flu kills more people every year than just about any other infectious disease you can name does. It is deadly and people don’t respect it because it is so common but it can kill. Even if it doesn’t kill you it makes you very sick for a prolonged period of time such that you miss class or work days.”
To protect students, faculty and staff, nurses at the Vinson Health Center will be giving flu shots starting at $15 for faculty and staff whenever they get a sufficient supply of flu shots Williamson said.
“For a student, it is an incalculable value because it’s free,” Williamson said.
Katie Lehenbauer, a senior in exercise physiology, has gotten her flu shot up until the past few years ago. In high school, her parents took her and her siblings to get flu shots.
“I have always been afraid of needles and getting this wasn’t any different. When they gave me the shot, I got super weak and my stepmom said I turned pale white. It was a bad experience so until last year I hadn’t gotten one. Last year I got a flu shot because my parents kept telling me too, but I don’t know if I will continue to get them since I am afraid of needles and still sometimes get very weak.” Lehenbauer said.
MSU purchases a supply of flu shots to be given each year. This year the staff at Vinson Health Center has ordered 500 shots.
“The idea is to decrease the disease burden such that it doesn’t affect our operations and student learning on campus,” Williamson said.
The shots — the quadrivalent flu shot — are different than what they normally give out, the trivalent vaccine, both of which contain inactive influenza virus.
The quadrivalent shot protects against four strains of the Flu Virus instead of just three. Williamson said, it helps fight off the two A strains and the two B strains of the flu virus. Prior to this new development, the makers of the flu shot chose between on B strain or the other and 50 percent of the time it was right and the other 50 percent of the time it was the wrong strain and people became ill.
Still, the vaccine only protects against specific straints of the flu, not all the possible viruses and bacteria that can cause illness.
“Flu shots only protect against the flu and it is cold and flu season. Wash your hands frequently and don’t share clothes or of personal use such as toothbrushes and razors. Don’t share food or drinks,” Williamson said.
