Free shots on campus help students battle flu season

The Student Health Center did its part to help students fight the flu this season with free vaccinations this week.

Approximately 800 students were given the flu vaccine between two days, according to Sara Hanel, director of the SHC

Hanel stressed the importance for students to get their shot in order to stay out of bed, and in class.

"[The students] job is to go to school and the flu often keeps students from going to class for about a week," she said.

The SHC works with Maxim Health Services to offer flu shots for students every year with money from the Medical Service fee.

For students who waited in line and braved the needle, getting the shot was well worth it.

"I’m not someone who usually gets sick," Shara Natour, sophomore nursing major, said. "But a lot of my family and people around me have been getting it so I got [the shot] just in case."

"People can get flu all year round, but winter is the season when the flu vaccine is most prevalent because many people are indoors and around each other, which allows the virus to spread easily," Hanel said.

She added that due to the changing nature of the flu virus, the vaccine students get changes every year to match the viruses that are most likely to cause the flu each year.

Students who received the shot can expect mild soreness in their arm where the shot was given for one to two days. Hanel said it will take up to two weeks to build up immunity to the flu.

There will be another round of flu vaccinations for faculty and staff next week on Oct. 9 and 10.