The first recorded case of influenza in Oregon struck a University student last week, but the first shipment of flu vaccinations for healthy students and faculty won’t arrive at the Student Health Center until today or Wednesday.
Drug manufacturer Wyeth sent two 300-dose shipments to the health center on Nov. 6 and Nov. 13 and were administered to students and faculty deemed “at-risk” because of diseases like diabetes — and to the athletic department.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams and reserve players on the football team received 50 of the health center’s first 300 vaccinations, a decision based on a long-standing relationship between the health center and the athletic department, according to Medical Director Gerald Fleischli.
The other 250 flu shots went to at-risk students with diabetes, asthma, a weak immune system or other ailments that can make a case of the flu life-threatening.
Fleischli said the decision was safe and there have been enough doses to avoid any shortages, even though the health center normally gets 3,000 vaccinations in the first shipment.
“We kept enough in reserve that there were no problems,” he said.
Fleischli and the Student Health Advisory Council decided that at-risk faculty and staff should have preference over healthy students for the second 300-dose shipment, which arrived a week later. He also denied a request by the athletic department for 50 more from that shipment.
“If one faculty member is sick, 100 to 200 students could be missing out on their education,” Fleischli said. “The next priority after that is healthy students and faculty.”
One of those healthy students, ASUO Vice President Holly Magner, said she is disappointed that sports players were vaccinated before at-risk faculty members, and she called the decision an example of how athletes receive special treatment at the University.
“The people who make the school money are the people who the University shines down on,” Magner said.
But Fleischli said he agrees with the long-standing policy to supply vaccinations to the athletic department, because athletes can contract the virus and spread it through the University and the state when they travel to away games.
“It is less fatal to athletes, but they are just as susceptible to catching it,” Fleischli said. “There are about 50 at-risk athletes.”
But Bob Crist, team physician for the athletic department, said healthy athletes also received vaccinations because he expected part of each shipment to be available for the athletic department.
The health center and agencies nationwide have encountered flu vaccination shortages, as manufacturers struggled to develop the flu strain used to create the vaccine.
“I was not told there would be a problem,” Crist said. “We didn’t get enough vaccine to make a dent.”
Fleischli said another 50 from the 300 vaccinations that should arrive in the next few days will be sent to the athletic department for more athletes.
Crist said the football starting squad didn’t get vaccinated because the athletic department didn’t want the risk of starters having a reaction before the Civil War game last week.
“We need to get them covered, [but] we do not force students to get a flu vaccine,” Crist said.
If students don’t find the time to get a flu shot before winter break, or if the current supply runs out, Fleischli said a larger shipment of more than 1,000 doses will arrive around Dec. 18 and students should get treated.
“It’s not too late after the break. That’s when we’ll be seeing our outbreak,” he said. “We don’t believe we have all the at-risk students yet.”
The health center has created a special system to handle questions about flu shots. Call 346-4444 to find out if shots are available and how to get one.