The flu can make you blue.
Even the less severe cases of the flue can cause fever, chills, headache, cough and sore muscles, and make you feel bad for days or even weeks. And when it’s more serious? Every year, the flu hospitalizes 200,000 Americans and kills about 36,000.
To prevent themselves from catching this illness, Putnam City employees will be able to get flu shots in late October or early November, health coordinator Georgene Westendorf says. Specific times and places for shots will be announced in each building.
The price will be at a reduced rate because of a generous $7,000 donation from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Westendorf says.
According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flu vaccine is recommended for:
- People at high risk of complications if they get the flu (that includes people over the age of 65, people who live in long-term care facilities; adults and children 6 months and older who have chronic heart or lung conditions; adults or children 6 months and older who have weakened immune systems as the result of medication or HIV infection; and all children 6 to 23 months old)
- People who can give the flu to others (that includes anyone who lives with someone in a high-risk group, such as doctors, nurses, and other employees who work in hospitals and doctors" office; and people who work in long-term care facilities)
- Anyone who wants to lower his or her chances of getting the flu
The CDC has also posted a list of people who should not be vaccinated against the flu, including people with severe allergies to eggs (flu vaccine is incubated in eggs); people who developed severe reactions or Guillain-Barre syndrome after previous flu shots; and children less than 6 months old. (A new recommendation this year calls for flu vaccinations for all infants 6 to 23 months old, but the vaccine has not been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for infants under 6 months of age.)
More information about who should and should not be vaccinated against flu is available on the Centers for Disease Control website.