Photo by: Yuan Yang
This quarter nearly 300 students, approximately 2.5 percent of the student population, have gone to the Health and Counseling Center with probable H1N1 flu.
The Health and Counseling Center is planning on administering H1N1 vaccinations free to students in early November, beginning with those students that fit into priority groups.
The first priority group consists of pregnant women, households with children under the age of six months old and children five to 18 years old with underlying risk conditions.
The second priority group is where most DU students land. It consists of all people ages five to 24 and non-elderly adults with underlying risk conditions.
Oct. 13 Sam Alexander reported that nearly 48 students were complaining of H1N1 symptoms, which is the largest number to date.
“I would estimate that this means that there are around 60 students currently at some stage of the illness,” Alexander said.
The Health and Counseling Center has requested 12,800 doses of the H1N1 vaccine.
However, Alexander is not sure whether DU will actually receive that many doses.
The vaccine is expected to arrive in small shipments in early November.
This is enough to vaccinate every student.
“We expect to have enough vaccine to start flu vaccine clinics in early November, but the Health Department isn’t able to give us any definite dates,” he said.
The vaccine will be given free to students by the center, but faculty and staff will have to go to their own health care provider or the Health Department to receive a vaccination.
Faculty and staff who are covered by Kaiser Permanente health insurance will be able to get a flu shot on campus for free.
Various locations on campus are being considered for administering the vaccine, but as of now there is no definite location.
“The location will depend upon how many vaccines we receive in the initial shipments; if the shipments are larger, we may need to hold a larger clinic in the Ritchie Center,” Alexander said.
However, this vaccine will be given to priority groups first, as required by the Health Department, Alexander stated.
