Pitt offering flu shots to students

The Falk Medical Center is offering flu shots to Pitt students, urging them to take their… The Falk Medical Center is offering flu shots to Pitt students, urging them to take their health seriously as winter approaches.

The Falk Medical Center is one of the many places offering the influenza vaccine on campus. Falk Pharmacy employees said that about 2,500 people received the shot in September and October, and the center expects to administer more flu shots this year, exceeding the 3,000 vaccinations it gave out last year.

The Falk Medical Center is distributing the vaccine for to Pitt students, Pitt and UPMC employees and those with UPMC health insurance until the end of December. All other will have to pay $25. Those who do pay for the vaccine can send a copy of their receipt for the shot to their insurance provider, which can then decide to reimburse the individual. Individuals are taken on a walk-in basis.

Students at Pitt’s pharmacy school check patients in on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for flu shots.

Richard Zimmerman, a professor of family medicine at Pitt’s Medical School, recommends the shot for everyone older than six months. The vaccine provides protection against three strands of the flu that are currently circulating throughout the world — Influenza Type B, H1N1 and H3N2.

Annie Preaux, a sophomore majoring in chemistry, said she has never been diagnosed with the flu before and normally does not get the shot.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with [the vaccine], it’s just not necessary unless you’re prone to getting the flu,” she said.

But Ronak Patel, a cardiology fellow at UPMC, received his injection of the vaccine earlier this month, and said that he got his shot “so that … my patients don’t contract the flu on my behalf.”

Patel hasn’t gotten his shot every year. Two years ago, he missed getting the shot and was infected with H1N1, a type of flu popularly called “swine flu” that infected 43,771 Americans that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He recalls the illness as “the sickest I’ve ever been.” After that experience, Patel said he makes sure to get vaccinated.

For the 2010-2011 flu season, 8,227 people were hospitalized because of the flu, according to the Health Industry Distributors Association.

Nicole Cerussi, the manager at Falk Pharmacy, said that it is purely a coincidence when people get sick after their shot.. They could have been exposed to an illness before receiving the shot, and the shot does not protect against an already growing virus.

Sixth-year pharmacy students Kate Steward and Ashleigh Hogue, who volunteer through the School of Pharmacy, have been handing out information to students on campus to inform them of the benefits of the flu vaccination.

Steward has had her flu shot because she does a lot of traveling and is a UPMC employee, though employees are not required to get the vaccine. She said that for those people who decide not to get the vaccine and become infected with the virus, they are out of luck.

“There really is no treatment,” she said.

According to the CDC, there is no exact number of how many people die from the flu each year, though the most common estimate for every year is 36,000 deaths worldwide. Ninety percent of those deaths occur in people ages 65 and older.

“College students aren’t likely to die from the flu, but it’s kind of a bummer to miss a big event because you were sick in bed for two days,” Zimmerman said.