Vaccinations urged as another flu season arrives

It may not be fun to accept it, but summer is gone and flu season is right around the corner. Pockets of coughers and sneezers can already be heard at any semi-large public gathering, and soon these seasonal sniffles can become serious, spreading the flu virus to those most vulnerable.

The best and most tried and true way to prevent the spread of preventable illness that hospitalized 1,216 Rhode Islanders (and killed 33 of them) last year is the same method as always – a flu shot, says the state Department of Health.

“A flu shot is the single best way to protect yourself and the ones you love against the flu,” said state Director of Health, Nicole Alexander-Scott, in a press release kicking off the annual flu vaccination campaign. “When you get a flu shot you are not only protecting yourself, you are also protecting the people in your life by limiting the spread of the flu. This is especially important if you spend time with younger children or the elderly, who are more susceptible to the effects of the flu.”

Residents of Rhode Island can get a flu shot from just about anywhere you might expect, including your personal doctor’s office, free clinics, pharmacies and even at clinics that set up in your local high schools. While many insurance providers cover the cost of a flu shot, even those who don’t have insurance or have insurance that doesn’t cover the $25 charge have resources available to them in the state.

“Even if you don't have health insurance or can't afford a flu shot, there are places in Rhode Island where you can get vaccinated for free,” Alexander-Scott continued in the release. “There will be more than 100 public flu clinics at schools across the state, starting next week. Flu shots are safe, effective, and easier to get than ever before.”

In Warwick, starting In mid-October, members of the general public (ages 3) can get a flu shot at St. Kevin Church, Warwick Veterans Junior High School, St. Rose of Lima School, Toll Gate High School, Pilgrim High School and St. Peter School. For a full list of places you can get vaccinated in Rhode Island, organized by community, visit http://health.ri.gov/flu/.

Rhode Island reportedly had 455,000 of its residents get vaccinated last year, which was enough to rank as the second highest in the nation per capita.

Warwick Community Wellness Nurse Pat Seltzer wants to see this number get even higher.

“It's really important, especially as you get older and your immune system doesn't work as well,” she said. “The complications of the flu can become extreme, and deadly.”

Seltzer said that Rhode Island has superior programs available to ensure that there are enough vaccines for everybody, and that to her recollection the state has never had a shortage. She also said that this year’s strain of flu vaccine is poised to be particularly effective, as a significant new strain of virus has not been identified since the final strains of last season.

As a nurse, Seltzer has also heard the gamut of excuses for why people don’t get vaccinated. On one end of the spectrum are people who have never gotten the flu, and believe they don’t need the vaccine or that it will actually compromise their health if they do get the vaccine.

Seltzer said she was actually of this same mindset for a long time, until she realized that she could be a carrier of the virus without it affecting her, and spread that potentially deadly virus to somebody who it might actually harm, or even kill.

“Once I came around to the fact that protecting myself is also protecting others, that’s what convinced me,” she said.

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who believe that the government is using flu vaccines as a method to implant tracking chips for whatever nefarious behavior they happen to believe in. Seltzer didn’t find that to be a compelling argument either.

In between these two extremes are people who – perhaps due to misinformation campaigns or false information spread, ironically like the flu, over social media – believe that getting the flu vaccine will actually give you the flu. Seltzer said that this is blatantly false, and physically impossible.

“It's not a live vaccine, it cannot give you the flu because it is not a live form of the virus,” she said. “It just stimulates your immune system, tricking it into thinking you do have the virus.”

Seltzer added that, for people who believe that vaccines made them ill, getting sick after receiving a vaccine is actually just symptoms of your body developing an immune response to the flue – such as a dull aching pain or a low fever. The other alternative is that they actually contracted the real flu prior to being vaccinated, which will render the vaccine ineffective, as it must already be in your system to function properly.

Seltzer said that, for people who have never had the flu before, experiencing rare sickness symptoms as a result of getting the vaccine is not comparable to getting the actual flu.

“Once some of these people get the real thing, they go out and get the vaccine every year,” she said.