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Flu shot clinics underway

By Sue Sitter - | Oct 15, 2022

Sue Sitter/PCT Mandy McNeff, left, receives a flu vaccine from Lake Region District Health Unit Nurse Samantha Wentz at a walk-in flu shot clinic held at Rugby High School Oct. 11.

Lake Region District Health Unit Nurse Samantha Wentz stayed busy the week of Oct. 10, making the rounds through Rugby schools to stop the spread of influenza.

Wentz offered flu shots Tuesday, Oct. 11 in the conference room at Rugby High School throughout the day. On Oct. 12, she would give the shots at Little Flower Elementary School and the Lake Region District Health Unit office in the Pierce County Courthouse.

She said this year’s flu season might be a tough one for many area residents.

“Right now, we look at what happens in the southern hemisphere for flu season, and Australia had a rough year with influenza,” she said. “Usually, we mirror that, so we may see more cases of influenza.”

Wentz said flu shots are “definitely very important if you have any underlying conditions, but everyone age six months and older is recommended to have a flu shot.”

Scientists put lots of work into fighting the flu with effective vaccines every season, according to Wentz.

“Every year, they try to formulate the flu shot based on what variants of the flu are going to be present. Usually, two types of Influenza A and two types of Influenza B are the variants that the flu shot focuses on,” she said.

“Every year you have a flu shot, you hold onto some of that immunity, so they’re hoping with each new variant, each flu shot is beneficial that way,” she added.

In addition to fighting flu, Wentz said she helps fight misconceptions people have about the vaccine.

“I’ve heard from quite a few people, ‘Oh, I had my flu shot, then I got sick,’ or, ‘I had my flu shot and I threw up,'” she said. “There’s a misconception between what we call the stomach flu and influenza.”

“Influenza is very rarely throwing up. It would be more the respiratory illness, fever, body aches, chills, cough,” she added.

“Also,” she said, “the influenza vaccine is inactive. It’s not a live vaccine, so there’s no way it could cause influenza.”

Wentz also encouraged people to stay up-to-date on COVID vaccine boosters.

“There’s a wave of COVID expected for the United States,” Wentz noted. “They say it will come in November. So, we are offering the COVID booster every Thursday.”

“The new bivalent COVID booster is recommended for anyone age 12 and over right now,” she said. “Actually, you can get the booster shot along with the flu shot.”

The Lake Region District Health Unit Office in the Pierce County Courthouse will have four walk-in flu shot clinics through Oct. 26.

“We have an evening clinic (Oct. 17) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to catch those who can’t get time off work during the day,” Wentz said.

Other clinics will be held at the LRDU Pierce County office on Wednesday, Oct. 19 from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 20 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Wednesday, Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to noon and 1p.m. to 4 p.m.

Shots are also available by appointment for those who are busy on clinic days. Call 776-6783 to schedule an appointment.