Flu shot season kicks off in Chapel Hill

It’s that time of year again — as the fall season kicks into gear, so does the flu season. 

Thousands of people in the UNC community get flu shots every year. The vaccine is available at a variety of locations on and off campus.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends on its website that people get their flu shot by October if possible. Its website also says research shows that flu vaccinations benefit public health. 

“No vaccine is ever perfect," said Dr. Mary Covington, director of Campus Health Services. "But (researchers) study the vaccine and make sure that it is specific to what they think the flu strains are circulating." 

Covington said the vaccine has other benefits, along with helping prevent the flu. 

"The other benefit is that if you do get it with a flu strain, it often makes your symptoms milder,” she said. 

Despite praise for the vaccine, there is some criticism. First-year Gavriella Ravid said she is against flu shots because she thinks they include more toxins than just the flu strain. 

"If I feel a sickness coming on, I’d rather change what I’m doing like maybe drink more tea, hot foods, more hot showers, garlic and hope that my body can fight it off. And if it doesn’t, I just let my body take its time,” she said.

Covington said a lot of reasons people don’t get vaccines are not based on scientific evidence. Dr. Thevy Chai, who works in primary care in Campus Health Services, agreed with Covington.

“If you’re protected, then that also helps protect the other individuals around you as well,” Chai said. “If you stay healthy and the individuals around you stay healthy, you can focus on your school and the activities that you’d like to continue doing.”

Campus Health makes flu shots available to students through appointments. Covington said it also collaborates with the UNC Department of Environment, Health, and Safety to advertise and set up flu vaccination clinics for both students and employees at UNC.

John Covely, a spokesperson for the department, said flu shots are especially important on college campuses. 

“Whether it is a residence hall or a workplace, you are working very close to your fellow employees and fellow students so there is not the social distance,” he said. “So it is important to everyone to get a flu shot, but it certainly is very important for people working in close proximity to one another to be vaccinated. There are about 30,000 people every year in America who die from influenza, so it can be a mild disorder but it can also be a deadly disorder.”

UNC has partnered with insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield to make flu shots free for students and employees. Covely said even if an insurance company is not connected with UNC, it will most likely provide reimbursement for the vaccination.

Covely said EHS holds 21 flu vaccination clinics at 12 locations.

“We normally give between five and six thousand vaccinations per year through these 21 clinics," Clovely said. "Usually about a thousand of those are students and about five thousand are employees."

So far this year, Campus Health has given out over 1,700 vaccinations, Covington said. Covely said EHS has vaccinated 4,500 people this year.

Covely said the number of people getting shots at on-campus clinics has been declining slightly in recent years because of drugstores, like Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid, that offer flu shots.

Stacie Mock, a pharmacist at the Walgreens at 108 East Franklin Street, said they have been seeing mostly students come in for flu shots. 

Mock said she thinks the location and the walk-in hours are convenient for students.

"We’re open until 9, so if your schedule permits, if you can’t get in during the day, you can come at night, as opposed to going to your doctor’s office,” she said.

Mock said Walgreens is also conducting a “Get a Shot. Give a Shot” campaign that will donate up to $2 million for vaccinations through the United Nations Foundation. She said the vaccines mostly go to children in underdeveloped countries. 

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a flu shot," Mock said. "It could be a polio vaccine, any vaccines that they need.”

university@dailytarheel.com