Flu vaccines accessible now: Shield your self this fall

With respiratory virus season approaching, well being consultants at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are urging Middle Tennesseans to guard themselves and their households by getting vaccinated in opposition to the flu.

VUMC worker vaccinations

For VUMC workers, the Occupational Health Clinic is facilitating a number of influenza vaccination choices. “Our team is committed to providing quick and easy options for you and your colleagues to obtain a flu vaccine,” stated Ana Nobis, MD, MPH, medical director of the Occupational Health Clinic.

Fight the Flu Vaccination Stations are scheduled at varied places on the Main Campus via September and October.

The Peer Vaccination Program permits departments to vaccinate their groups on-site, and workers on the Main Campus also can go to the Occupational Health Clinic at Medical Arts Building with out an appointment.

Employees at VUMC’s three Regional Hospitals ought to go to their facility’s occupational well being nurse. Employees at outlying places can go to VUMC walk-in clinics.

VUMC workers should meet flu vaccination compliance necessities by Nov. 1.

For extra info on worker vaccination, see the Occupational Health Clinic’s Flu Vaccine Program for Employees.

Information about Covid-19 vaccinations will probably be included in a future article. 

Flu will be rampant — and harmful

“Flu is no fun, and it’s also a life-threatening illness,” stated infectious ailments specialist Patty Wright, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Adult Ambulatory Clinics. “Sometimes people say you can still get the flu even if you get the flu shot, which is true, but you’re much less likely to get really sick with the flu if you’re vaccinated.”

The 2024-2025 flu season was sizable. With remaining estimates due in November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s preliminary 2024-2025 flu in-season illness burden estimates embrace 610,000 to 1.3 million flu hospitalizations and 27,000 to 130,000 flu deaths.

In the 2024-2025 flu season at Vanderbilt University Hospital and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, 363 adults and 268 youngsters had a constructive flu take a look at throughout or related to a hospital keep, and deaths amongst these sufferers whereas in these hospitals included eight adults and one little one.

Wright emphasised that vaccinated people who do contract influenza are much less prone to be hospitalized, require intensive care unit care, or die from the an infection. This safety extends to each adults and kids, with research displaying that vaccinated youngsters expertise much less extreme influenza infections.

Flu season is predicted to peak in January or February, making fall the very best time for vaccination. Vaccines take roughly two weeks to supply full immunity, and the CDC recommends getting vaccinated by the tip of October.

Those at highest threat for extreme flu issues embrace adults over 70, younger youngsters, and other people with power situations corresponding to lung illness. “If you already have lung problems and get flu on top of it, that can really put you at risk of being in the ICU and needing a ventilator,” Wright stated.

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