Flu Season, Flu Shots Arrive on Campus

For the second year in a row, Harvard University Health Services (UHS) is going into dining halls and other campus locations to offer free influenza vaccines to students, faculty and staff.

Vaccines will be offered during dinner hours on Nov. 8 in Mather House, Nov. 13 in Annenberg, Nov. 15 in Eliot and Nov. 20 from 11 a.m. to noon in Loker Commons. They are also being offered at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government.

UHS expanded its outreach program for the vaccines during the last school year following a flu outbreak in January of 1999, according to Harvard Infection Control Surveillance Officer and nurse practitioner Donna V. Campbell.

She said UHS officials noticed that the vaccine was effective in preventing the virus on campus.

"People really liked it and it worked well--we nipped it in the bud," Campbell said.

She said that although statistics always vary from year to year, she believes fewer respiratory illnesses were reported last year, in part because of the flu vaccination program.

"There clearly was a dip last year of respiratory illness from December to March," Campbell said.

In all, 3,200 Harvard students, staff, and employees were vaccinated in offsite clinics last season, and Campbell thinks at least as many will participate this year.

According to a Harvard nurse administering the vaccines, there has already been a significant turnout.

"In two hours at Annenberg, we vaccinated 185 students," said the nurse, who declined to be identified.

After reading an informational sheet, students who participate in the program sign a consent form and then receive the shot.

According to Campbell, major negative side effects are extremely rare.

Campbell said college students are particularly at risk of contracting the flu "because they are living in groups in a common setting."

The virus is spread through the nose and throat, and "breathing, sneezing, and even talking can pass it on," she said.

"If we have the flu it's everywhere, and it's hard to isolate it," she added. "We want to head it off at the pass."

Many students said they felt the same way.

"The flu's really easy to get here, and I can't afford to be sick," said Alice O. Wong '04. "So why not [get the vaccine]?"

Other students said they were not planning on getting the vaccine.

"I don't think they really help," said Mike D. Ramos '04. "I know people who've ended up getting the flu even with the shot."

According to an informational pamphlet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while it is still possible to contract the flu after being vaccinated, it is often a milder case.

The pamphlet also warns that people sometimes mistake any illness involving fever, aches and pains for influenza, even though it could be a completely different virus.

In addition to being vaccinated, Campbell said students should "rest, de-stress, and eat well, and maintain good hygiene" in order to have a healthy winter.