GET YOUR FLU SHOT NOW!
NOTE ABOUT H1N1 VACCINE: All three of our facilities will be getting the vaccine for administration to high-risk groups sometime around late October or early November.
Flu season is here! CLICK HERE for medical information about influenza and what you can do to prevent and treat this potentially deadly virus.
Should you and those in your company get a flu shot? You can help prevent influenza by getting immunized with an influenza vaccine each year. This vaccine effectively prevents most cases of the flu, although success rates vary according to age, health status, and how closely the virus strains contained in the vaccine match those that are circulating through the population.
Even if a flu shot does not prevent the flu, the vaccine can reduce the severity of flu symptoms and decrease the risk of complications. Studies have found that the flu shot results in fewer days missed from work and fewer visits to a doctor for respiratory infections, and reduces the number of people who develop complications from the flu, such as pneumonia.
In spite of these results, many people choose not to get a flu shot. Some do not get the shot because of myths they believe about the flu or the vaccine. The flu shot may cause side effects in some people, but they are usually minor and do not last long.
An alternative to the flu shot is now available. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a nasal spray flu vaccine. This vaccine, called FluMist, is available to healthy children and adults between ages 5 and 49 years. To avoid transmitting the virus after being vaccinated, close contacts (such as health care workers or family members) of people with impaired immune systems should not be immunized with FluMist; they should get a flu shot.
Because the FluMist nasal vaccine is more expensive than a flu shot, it may not be covered by your health insurance plan. Check with your insurance company first.
|
