Two ’flu shot clinics added

Although the Northwestern Health Unit’s ’flu shot clinics are soon to wrap up for the season, Cindy McKinnon, program manager for infectious disease, noted there still seems to be a demand for immunizations.
As such, the Fort Frances office has opened up two more clinic days—Dec. 19 and 20—to try to accommodate people before Christmas.
“We’re still getting a number of requests for the ’flu vaccine,” McKinnon said, adding there could be a number of reasons people for that.
Anyone still wanting the ’flu shot is asked to contact the Northwestern Health Unit to make an appointment for those two extra days.
“We’re encouraging parents of young children to have their kids immunized because when they get influenza, it often results in more hospitalization,” McKinnon noted.
“And last year in the area, of all the children that had confirmed cases of influenza and were hospitalized, none of those children we’re immunized,” she remarked.
Everyone over the age of six months is eligible to receive the free influenza vaccine.
The only people who are advised to avoid getting a ’flu shot are those who have a true allergy to eggs or if they’ve had a previous adverse reaction to a ’flu shot, McKinnon said.
“People who have diabetes or any chronic conditions, they absolutely should get a ’flu shot because they are more susceptible to the ’flu and they have worse complications when they do get the true ’flu,” she indicated.
As in past years, the health unit has been targeting people age 65 and over to get the ’flu shot, as well as health-care providers and volunteers in health-care institutions, who are most likely to transmit the virus to the high-risk population.
“It’s not to late,” she stressed, adding the health unit will try to accommodate anyone still interested in getting the ’flu vaccination.
For more information, contact the Northwestern Health Unit at 274-9827 or visit www.nwhu.on.ca