With midterms around the corner, students should head to the UNM Family Practice Center on north campus for their free flu immunizations, said Amy Frederick, Student Health & Counseling nurse manager.
Frederick said getting the shot might ensure students stay healthy and can ace their tests.
NurseAdvice New Mexico, a statewide health care collaborative, has reported a 20 percent increase in flu-related calls, and Frederick said SHAC has seen an increase in flu cases, too.
“Students are in the age range that we consider at most risk of getting the flu,” she said. “We would really like students to come and get their flu shots.”
UNM Hospital nurse Leanne Thompson said students are also at risk because of their close proximity to each other.
“I would encourage you to take advantage of it, because it can only help,” she said. “The benefits definitely outweigh any risks of getting the flu shot, especially since students are around so many people, which allows more germs to be transferred more quickly.”
Thompson said the H1N1 strand of flu is hard to predict, but the vaccine for it should be available in mid-October.
It’s new, and we don’t really know that much about it,” she said “It is attacking everyone, the healthy and the nonhealthy, which is unusual.”
According to UNM Hospital’s most recent H1N1 influenza update, a potential outbreak of the swine flu is expected this school year.
Frederick said the upcoming shot clinics are for the prevention of the conventional flu, not the swine flu.
“There is some question about whether the regular flu is more severe than the swine flu,” she said. “We are unsure of that, but what we do know is that the swine flu is more likely to affect young people as opposed to older adults.”
Either way, Frederick said concerned students should cover all their bases and get the standard flu shot before the swine flu vaccine is available.
SHAC wants to distribute as many vaccinations as possible in order to keep the student body healthy, Frederick said.
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“We want to make the vaccine readily available to a wide variety of people,” she said.
For a vaccination schedule, visit shac.unm.edu/influenza.htm
