University students looking to stay healthy during the upcoming flu season will have to look farther than the health center for vaccines.
The University will not be receiving or administering flu shots this year because of a national shortage of influenza vaccine for the upcoming flu season, said University Health Center Assistant Nursing Director Sharon Harbert.
In light of the shortage, U.S. health officials have established guidelines on who should receive
available shots — and healthy, young college students aren’t among the recommended groups, Harbert said.
“Our nation could have a very severe flu season, because people can’t get vaccinated,” she said, noting the health center planned
to supply flu shots as recently as early October. “But it’s something people couldn’t foresee. There’s a severe vaccine shortage nationwide.”
Influenza causes 36,000 deaths each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, although the illness only lasts a few days for most
people. Vaccine producer Chiron Corp., which supplies about half of the nation’s supply of flu vaccine, announced this week that it will not distribute the shots this year.
Last year, the health center administered more than 2,000 flu shots to students and faculty
before running out of the vaccine, which protects against the virus for about three months.
In response to the lack of flu-shots this year, the health center has shifted
attention away from flu vaccines to promoting healthy
behavior, Harbert said.
“This gives us an opportunity to really promote healthy behavior,” Harbert said. “Besides getting flu shots, there are some things students can do to stay healthy that are very important.”
Students should wash their hands often, follow “respiratory etiquette” by covering their mouths and noses when they cough, dispose of used tissues in the trash and wear surgical masks if sick when visiting the health center, Harbert said.
She added that
students, whether
living in residence halls or off campus, plunge into an entirely different germ pool — from many different states and about 85 different countries — when they attend classes. Stress, late nights with friends and poor eating habits make students more susceptible to illness, Harbert said.
“Life is kind of like a three-legged stool,” she said. “It’s hard to do, but it’s really important for students to keep their lives in
balance. Getting enough rest, washing your hands and eating a good diet is very important.”
Although the University will not offer flu shots
this year, students
who are part
of the CDC’s
recommended
priority groups, which are based on certain medical conditions and ages, should go
to the Lane County Health
Department to be vaccinated, said University Director and Associate Dean of Student Life Laura Blake Jones.
“Having the flu is harmful for anybody,” Blake Jones said. “But for high-risk students in certain priority groups, where getting the flu can exacerbate other problems for them, those are the students we’re concerned about.”

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