Syracuse University last Wednesday held its first flu point of delivery event of the 2017-18 academic year. Nurses and pharmacists administered flu shots to students, staff and faculty.

The event was a collaborative training exercise with the county, said Ben Domingo, director of SU Health Services.

“Should there ever be a public health crisis, SU can take care of their own population to alleviate the county and allow them to care for others in the county,” Domingo said.

Subsequent flu clinics will be held 10 more times between 2017 and 2018.

Domingo said flu shots protect the community in addition to individuals themselves. The purpose of flu vaccines is to build herd immunity, he said.

Herd immunity — when a significant amount of a population is vaccinated — helps protect those who might be vulnerable to a disease, such as those with compromised immune systems.

Sophie Estep, a sophomore public relations and information management and technology dual major, received her first shot at the POD on Wednesday.

“I never had the flu so it never really affected me,” Estep said. “But all of my friends were coming to get flu shots and said I should probably get one or else I might get sick.”

The flu PODs have increased the number of students who get vaccinated, but not necessarily the number of students who contract with the flu. The vaccine builds resistance, so it reduces the effect of the actual illness if infected.

“Flu numbers depend on many factors, such as whether or not the vaccine is effective and whether there’s a nationwide epidemic,” Domingo said.

This year, SU is distributing a quadrivalent vaccine, which protects against four strains of the flu, instead of a trivalent, which only fights off three.

“The past couple years, the flu vaccination hasn’t been the greatest formulation, so we still have had cases of the flu,” said Michele Frontale, supervising pharmacist at health services. “But of those cases, the immunized students presented less severe symptoms, so we found that it does help in the severity of the cases that we’ve seen.”

Students respond best to the vaccine when they receive it early, as it takes time for the body to build up an immunity, Frontale and Domingo said.

If students feel any flu symptoms, such as a fever, they should seek treatment right away, Frontale and Domingo said. While there is an antiviral to lessen the duration, it’s only effective within three days of the flu beginning.

Symptoms from the shot include “slight arm soreness, and some people may feel slight cold-like symptoms,” Domingo said.

Along with the vaccine, students can decrease infection rates by washing their hands consistently and sneezing into their sleeves. Students can also try to reduce stress and eat a balanced diet, Domingo said.

Published on October 15, 2017 at 9:38 pm

Contact Jessi: jmsopori@syr.edu