Story by Raegan Turner | Staff Writer, Video by Jenna Welch | Broadcast Reporter
Baylor University is hosting flu vaccination clinics across campus for students and faculty during the month of October starting today from 9 to 11 a.m. on the first floor of the Paul L. Foster Success Center.
Nancy Keating, director of nurses at the Baylor Health Clinic, described the significant amounts of people who received vaccines at the various clinics around campus last year
“Last year we gave approximately 600 vaccines away in the various flu vaccination clinics around campus and about 200 here in the Baylor health clinic. Overall, around 800 people were vaccinated by us at Baylor,” Keating said.
Keating recommended some additional actions students should take to protect themselves from getting the flu, such as avoiding close contact with people who are sick, washing your hands frequently, getting plenty of sleep, drinking lots of liquids and eating nutritiously.
Students and faculty can receive vaccinations to help combat the spread of the flu, which are preferred over nasal sprays which have proven to be less effective. This year’s vaccine will be quadrivalent, which means it consists of two A strains and two B strains which include the strains H1N1, H3N2, B Victoria and B Yamagata. These strains are based on information of previous years’ flu season.
San Antonio junior Lina Sanchez said she wants to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
“Last year I got the flu, and it was the absolute worst. I was forced to miss class and overall felt terrible — everything hurt. This year I’m going to get the shot so I don’t have to go through that again,” Sanchez said.
Baylor is competing in the Alana Yaksich National College/University Flu Vaccination Challenge in in support of Alana’s Foundation. The foundation is a non-profit aimed at educating the public about the seriousness of the flu and was started by parents of a young girl named Alana who died of flu-related complications. Alana had not been vaccinated and contracted influenza, which escalated into excessive brain swelling and resulted in her death.
Dr. Robert Atmar, professor and interim chief of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine, expressed the importance of getting a flu vaccine this season in a news article from the school.
“There is every reason to expect that we could have a severe flu season this year. It’s always hard to predict what is going to happen, but people should be prepared,” Atmar said in the article.
The dates, times and locations for coming clinics are as follows:
Oct. 9, 2018 9-11 a.m.. Paul L. Foster Success Center, First Floor
Oct. 11, 2018 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. BSB, First Floor
Oct. 16, 2018 Noon to 2 p.m. Law School, Lawyer’s Lounge
Oct. 25, 2018 2 to 4 p.m. SLC, First Floor
Oct. 30, 2018 1 to 3 p.m. Hankamer School of Business, Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, Atrium Area
