With flu season heading here fast it’s time for Bobcats to get their flu shots.
Crumbled tissues, empty cough drop bags and used DayQuil tablets litter Ohio University’s desks. Flu season is upon us.
“Living on campus and this population, things get spread very easily,” Amanda Swope, nursing supervisor of Campus Care, said. “Flu is spread through close contact like sneezing, touching things that someone sneezes and coughs on. Your chances are better of not getting the flu if you have the flu vaccine.”
Campus Care offers flu shots for $56, including the vaccine and an injection fee.
But most costs are covered by health insurances.
Campus Care has administered 230 vaccines this flu season.
Athens’ CVS pharmacies — located on East State Street and Court Street — also provide flu vaccines.
Flu vaccines are $31.99 without billing insurance at the Court Street location, where about 200 flu vaccines have been administered. However, more people go to the State Street location for the vaccines.
It is possible to get seriously ill and possibly die from the flu, so getting the vaccine is recommended, Swope said.
“I don’t get flu shots,” Anna Westfall, a junior who is undecided, said. “I never think about it. It’s not really that big of a deal to me.”
The vaccine protects from various flu strains, and though new strains develop, a flu shot is the best way to stay healthy, Swope said.
Not getting a flu shot can also endanger those around you.
“Babies 6 months and older can get the flu shot,” Swope said. “But for infants younger than that it does protect them to an extent if you yourself get the flu vaccine, that way you’re less likely to catch the flu and to pass (it to) someone like (infants).”
Still, many students are skeptical including Keyarah Newton, a freshman studying political science.
“I don’t get them personally because I don’t think they work,” Newton said. “Because you still get the flu anyway and it’s just injecting a small amount of flu in your body so that you get that slight cold for a little bit then you supposedly not going to get the flu but technically you’re still getting sick for a little while.”
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