By Caleb Wheeler | Staff Writer
Baylor Health Services currently serves over 100 students every week in their facilities for various concerns and is currently offering mobile flu shot clinics that can be scheduled online.
“Last week and the week before, there were eight [flu cases] … so it’s only a 2% positivity rate,” Dr. Sharon Stern, Health Services medical director, said. “We have a trickle of cases right now, we’re not overwhelmed with numbers of flu.”
Stern said the numbers stay consistent from year to year, and there is usually an uptick in cases just before Thanksgiving. There is also usually an increase in February. To counteract these spikes in flu cases, Baylor is offering mobile flu shots in various places until Nov. 15, which are scheduled online.
“You make a nurse visit, that’s an injection visit, and then you put in the text box ‘flu.’ The morning of your appointment, you’ll get a little survey sent to you asking … all those questions we have to ask before we give a vaccine, and then you just come in at your time and get your shot and go,” said Stern.
Stern said getting the flu hinders students’ academic lives as the sickness will make them unwell for several days, which some professors may not accommodate. The flu can also cause students to miss class, resulting in a dropped grade.
“Getting the flu shot keeps students healthy and keeps them in class,” Nancy Keating, director of nursing at Baylor, said. “[It] can take students out of class for a week or so.”
According to Stern, college students especially pose a large health risk to the community. Their activity around hundreds of people daily provides an ideal method for sickness to travel quickly.
“The public health risk that is important in the age group of 18 to 22 is that they’re big spreaders of viruses, so if we immunize everybody from 25 down, we’re gonna stop a lot of flu. Little kids have a lot of touch points with other people, but so do college students, because [they] work in the community, they shop in the stores. So they’re out there, and they can readily spread the virus to people who are vulnerable,” Stern said.
Baylor has stated that there is no out-of-pocket charge for flu shots, but if a student has their insurance card, they are encouraged to bring it with them. Vaccinations can be administered through appointments and walk-ins, but appointments are preferred.
