Mass Flu Clinic Dates Announced

A mass flu clinic, administering flu immunizations, will be held for the community on Friday, October 28th at the Commercial Building at the Polk County Fairgrounds from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. The Arkansas Department of Health provides the mass flu clinic each year in an effort to stop the wide spread of influenza.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends getting an annual flu vaccine as the first and best way to protect yourself and your family from the flu. Flu vaccination can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, and missed work and school due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations. The more people who get vaccinated, the more people will be protected from flu, including older people, very young children, pregnant women and people with certain health conditions who are more vulnerable to serious flu complications.

A few things are new this season:

• Only injectable flu shots are recommended this season; no nasal mists.
• Flu vaccines have been updated to better match circulating viruses.
• There will be some new vaccines on the market this season.
• The recommendations for vaccination of people with egg allergies have changed.

There are many flu viruses and they are constantly changing. The composition of U.S. flu vaccines is reviewed annually and updated to match circulating flu viruses. Flu vaccines protect against the three or four viruses that research suggests will be most common. For 2016-2017, three-component vaccines are recommended to contain:

• A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus,
• A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus and a
• B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus (B/Victoria lineage).

Four component vaccines are recommended to include the same three viruses above, plus an additional B virus called B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (B/Yamagata lineage).

There is no out of pocket expense for those receiving the vaccine during this mass clinic scheduled on October 28. Organizers do ask that if you have insurance, Medicaid or Medicare, to please bring your card with you. For more information, contact the Polk County Health Department at 479-394-2707.

About Author

Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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