The Health and Counseling Center (HCC) expects to provide annual influenza vaccinations to approximately 3,000 students this flu season, according to HCC Executive Director Alan Kent.

This estimate is based on the 3,000 shots that were administered last year, and comes with an expected price tag that will be similar to last year’s roughly $30,000 in vaccination equipment from supplier Vaxserve and manufacturer Sanofi-Pasteur, according to Kent.

Kent encourages students to get a flu vaccination if possible.

“We’ve seen cases where students get a really bad case of the flu and they end up, in the worst case scenario, missing a whole quarter,” said Kent. “A simple cold you could be out for a day or two but with the flu could be out for a week or more…that sets you behind in your studies.”

HCC Medical Director and Staff Physician David Odell adding that the flu can be dangerous and spread easily in an area of concentrated people like DU.

“Influenza alone can kill 50,000 people,” said Odell. “The difficulty [at DU] is that we have a concentrated group of people here, and it will spread like wildfire.”

Odell pointed to the flu shot as a safe method of preventative care. He also said that everyone can do their part to prevent the flu from spreading on campus.

“The more people that get vaccinated, the better off we all are at containing a campus outbreak,” he said. “If certain people choose not to, it makes this more difficult.”

According to Kent, over 150 shots were administered in the first flu shot clinic held by the HCC this fall.]

Odell also says this year’s major flu strains are very similar to last year’s, based on Center of Disease Control and Prevention reports, and is easily treatable. However, if left unprotected, Odell says students and those around them could end up in the hospital.

“It’s not just you that a flu shot protects,” said Odell. “It is your family, your friends, young babies who cannot be immunized against the flu and people who are truly allergic to the vaccine and cannot take it.”

The HCC welcomes all students to make an appointment to obtain a vaccination free of charge. In addition, the HCC will hold walk-in clinics throughout the month of October so that students can get one at their convenience.