The Frederiksted Health Clinic has free flu vaccines at its Strand Street center for anyone who is uninsured and would like to get vaccinated, according to Frederiksted Health Care Inc., which runs the clinic. The clinic will also provide the vaccination to those with insurance and waive the usual co-pay fees.
Staff will visit the Bethlehem Shelter for the homeless in Kingshill at 9 a.m. Friday to offer the residents the vaccine. Later that day, from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., the staff will visit the Catholic Charities Soup Kitchen in Christiansted to offer the same vaccine to the clients seeking lunch at the facility.
The clinic is also in the process of planning more outreach dates and locations to provide the vaccine to the uninsured, and dates and locations will be announced in the near future.
Frederiksted Health Care is collaborating with Sanofi Pasteur, the manufacturer of the Fluzone Intradermal vaccine, to provide the free and low cost vaccinations.
Fluzone Intradermal vaccine is an inactivated influenza virus vaccine given to people 18 through 64 years of age for active immunization against flu caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B. Intradermal vaccines are injected into the skin through a small, ultra-thin needle, according to Frederiksted Health Care.
The flu, also called influenza, is caused by a virus that spreads around the world in seasonal outbreaks. The most common flu symptoms include fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue and muscle pain – symptoms that are similar to those of the common cold, but more severe.
Although flu symptoms may seem similar to those of a common cold, influenza is a more serious disease and may result in as many as 49,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that 41 states reported widespread geographic influenza activity for the week of Dec. 23-29, 2012; an increase from 31 states the previous week.
The CDC also indicated that there have been 2,257 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations since October 2012.
