Flu season is just around the corner.
Nurses at the LSU Student Health Center will be administering flu shots to University students for $10 and staff, faculty and retirees for $20 this week.
The center will give flu shots from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every day until Thursday or while supplies last.
“We have a limited supply, but we have more this year than before,” said Tim Honigman, Student Health Center medical chief of staff.
Honigman said the flu vaccine, which has minimal side effects for most people, changes every year based on the strains present the year before.
“It’s a new [vaccine] each season,” he said. “It stimulates the body’s immune system to produce antibodies for the current vaccine virus.”
Honigman, who has been working at the center for 16 years, said it is important for everyone to get a flu shot before flu season begins in mid-December.
“People who get the flu are usually sick between three and five days, so that interferes with school, work and other activities,” he said.
Honigman said the center’s goal for the campus is “herd immunity.”
“The more people on campus that we’re able to immunize, the less people will be exposed to the flu,” he said.
Honigman said the elderly, the young and people who have chronic diseases are high risk groups for contracting the flu.
Meg McInnis, English sophomore, does not plan to get a flu shot this year.
“First, I guess I don’t care about getting it more than going to a doctor,” she said. “Secondly, I just never had the need for it.”
McInnis said she got a flu shot her senior year of high school and was still diagnosed with the flu.
Honigman said most experts believe the flu shot is 80 to 85 percent effective.
Bliss Maginnis, theater sophomore who transferred from California, said she is thinking about getting a flu shot this year because she is not used to the weather in Louisiana.
“I have a strong immune system, but the weather is different than what I’m used to,” she said.
The center accepts several forms of payment, including cash, checks, credit cards and Tiger CASH. Students can also charge the payment to their fee bills.
—–Contact Angelle Barbazon at [email protected]