2008 Woodie Awards
UC Students Will Have to Get Flue Vaccination Elsewhere
Amanda Damiano
Issue date: 11/10/05 Section: Campus News
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According to the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the single best way to protect against the flu is to get vaccinated each fall.
For Utica College students, that vaccination will have to be done elsewhere. Flu shots will not be offered on campus.
Julie Murawski, Director of the Student Health Center ordered the flu vaccine this past February.
She was then contacted in August and was told that she had been put on a waiting list.
Soon afterwards, she received word that the vaccine was sold, and no more would be made.
Murawski, who has been offering flu shots on campus since the fall of 2001, said she is disappointed that she was unable to obtain a supply.
However, the Student Health Center will be selling the nasal-spray flu vaccine, FluMist.
According to CDC, the flu shot is an inactivated vaccine, which contains killed virus. It is given with a needle, usually in the arm. The flu shot is approved for use in people older than 6 months, including healthy people, as well as those with chronic medical conditions.
The nasal-spray flu vaccine is made with live, weakened flu viruses that do not cause the flu. It is approved for use in healthy people 5 to 49 years of age who are not pregnant.
Murawski said the nasal spray, which is kept frozen, is sprayed into the nose, and is painless. The cost is $25 and can be ordered at the Student Health Center. A list will be made to determine how many people would like to order a supply.
CDC considers October or November to be the best time to get vaccinated, however you can still get vaccinated in December and later.
Flu season can begin as early as October and as late as May.
Murawski said both vaccines are effective depending on when it is received.
According to CDC, factors include the age and health status of the person receiving the vaccine, as well as the "match" between the virus strains in the vaccine and those in circulation.