Flu Vaccination Now Available for 2017–2018 Season
With fall 2017 quickly approaching, many community members can be found stifling coughs and bearing tissues. As the weather gets colder, it is inevitable that everyone will be battling some sort of illness. One way to protect against this year’s flu virus is by receiving the flu vaccine for the 2017–2018 season, now available at pharmacies and clinics in Dutchess County.
Rite Aid Pharmacy in Poughkeepsie is one of the locations that recently received this year’s batch of the flu vaccine. Rite Aid Pharmacist, Mackenzie Stephens, explained that Rite Aid receives its vaccination from the same manufacturer each year, and the composition of the vaccine is based on which strains of the flu will be prominent this season.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “flu vaccines protect against the three or four viruses that research suggests will be most common.” This year, based on the research, it is recommended that the three-component vaccine is manufactured to contain: an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus, an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus, and a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like (B/Victoria lineage) virus. In addition to recommending this season’s strains to manufacturers, the Centers recommend receiving either the flu shot or the recombinant influenza vaccine, as opposed to the nasal spray flu vaccine.
According to Stephens, while you do need insurance to receive the flu shot at Rite Aid, it is free through nearly every insurance company the pharmacy processes. “We can give it to people without insurance, but they do have to pay for it out of pocket,” she said. For those who do not have insurance, the flu shot costs $34.99.
For members of the Dutchess County community without insurance or the resources to pay out of pocket, The Dutchess County Health Department serves as a resource. The Health Department no longer provides public flu clinics to people with insurance due to the wide availability of the vaccine in the community. Cindy Hamnett, Program Assistant at the Department of Behavioral and Community Health explained that this allows the department to focus on connecting individuals, who are unable to get their flu shots for various reasons, with the vaccinations. “If people have insurance, we just tell them to go to their pharmacy or their doctor,” she said. “If they don’t have insurance, then we can help them.”
According to the Health Department, the recommendation is that everyone six months of age or older should be vaccinated. While the department offers flu shots to children, vaccinations are only provided to children who are not covered through insurance. “We only see them once,” Hamnett said. “Then they need to get insurance and a doctor.”
Pharmacist Stephens echoed the recommendation for everyone over six months of age to receive the vaccination. “If you have certain health conditions, it’s actually more so recommended than just a normal, healthy person,” she added. People who suffer from asthma, diabetes, heart condition, HIV, or those who are undergoing chemotherapy are greater risk for infection.
In reaction to anyone who does not feel the flu vaccine is effective, Stephens would still recommend the vaccine. “Even if the strains are a little off, which happens frequently, if you get the flu, the vaccine is still protecting you,” she said. “The virus would be a lot milder than if you didn’t get the flu shot at all.”
Stephens advised that it is best to get the flu shot as early as possible, because it takes two to three weeks to for the body to build up immunity.
