With flu season just around the corner, St. Thomas began administering flu vaccines at an on-campus clinic at the Anderson Student Center on Wednesday.
Flu shots will be available on campus for the next two months. Health Services posted an initial schedule regarding flu shot availability.
“Having the flu clinic on campus makes it easier to get vaccinated,” said first year student Emily May who doesn’t have a car. “I would try, but it would be a lot harder.”
Guidance from the CDC this year states that influenza and COVID-19 vaccines can be given at the same time, and they suggest getting vaccinated against the flu by the end of October.
Last year’s flu season was unusually mild. The CDC suggests that COVID-19 safety precautions, such as “wearing face masks, staying home, hand washing, school closures, reduced travel, increased ventilation of indoor spaces, and physical distancing,” likely contributed to the decline in 2020-2021 flu hospitalizations and deaths.
Several of these COVID-19 protocols have since been relaxed, like school closures and social distancing, possibly impacting the flu’s intensity this year.
First-year student Nadia Barnes lives in the dorms, where masks are not required on the floors.
“People hang out in huge groups and they aren’t wearing masks… so it seems pretty likely that (the flu) will be worse this year,” Barnes said.
The CDC warns that last year’s mild flu season could play a factor this winter, noting that, “reduced population immunity due to lack of flu virus activity since March 2020 could result in an early and possibly severe flu season.”
Flu shots will be administered each week in September:
– Tuesday, Sept. 21, from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Center for Well-Being, Room 200.
– Wednesday, Sept. 29, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Terrence Murphy Hall, Room 255, on the Minneapolis Campus.
– Thursday, Sept. 30, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Center for Well-Being, Room 200.
October dates are coming soon.
Lauren Price can be reached at lauren.price@stthomas.edu.