Acting SHS Director Dr. Elizabeth Downing

Vaccinations against the most common flu strains will be available to campus employees and students again this year, reports Trish Katje, projects coordinator at Student Health Services (SHS). The first flu clinics will be at SHS on Oct. 31 and Nov. 3 and aimed at vaccinating students, she says.

Starting on Nov. 4, employees will be seen during one-hour morning clinics at the SHS Building. These dedicated clinics will begin at 7:30 a.m., and run every Friday through Dec. 9.

In addition, outside clinics will be scheduled on Tuesdays and Wednesdays—mornings and afternoons—for 1.5- to 2-hour stretches at various locations around campus. The traveling clinics will be announced in SHS ads placed in the Daily Nexus. The cost of the vaccination will be $15 in cash or check, says Katje.

The inoculations help protect against the New York, New Caledonia and Jiangsu flu strains, but have no effect against avian influenza strains. “Currently, there is no vaccine against avian flu,” says Dr. Elizabeth Downing, newly appointed acting director of SHS.

“Effective immunizations are being developed, but there is always the risk that the virus might mutate further and require another vaccine altogether,” she said. “There is an urgent need for more coordination of research internationally.”

For those interested in following new developments in the spread of avian flu, Downing suggests going to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site <www.cdc.gov> where factual updates are available.