As Syracuse University Health Services prepared for Wednesday’s campus flu clinic, it became increasingly concerned that they would not receive the vaccines on time.

“We were actually worried and the health center Listserv had people panicking about whether they were going to get their vaccines,” said Director of Health Services Ben Domingo.

The vendors that normally supply the vaccines, both to the university and to local medical practices, were experiencing shortages, Domingo said. After searching for vendors and paying a little more for vaccines in one case, Health Services obtained all of their vaccines, he said. Many area doctors offices are still experiencing shortages though, he added.

SU Health Services and the Onondaga County Health Department will be holding a flu clinic on Wednesday in Flanagan Gymnasium. Flu shots will be available to all students, staff and faculty with an SU/ESF ID from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at no cost.

In previous years, flu shots were given out at multiple clinics and were offered to individuals at Health Services. This year, while other opportunities will be available at later dates, Health Services wants as many people to show up on Wednesday as possible, Domingo said. To promote the clinic, Health Services is not advertising other clinics for students, faculty and staff, he said.

Domingo optimistically estimated that about 1,200–1,500 people will show up to get vaccinated on Wednesday, since no other date is being advertised. This would be a sharp increase from the 200–250 individuals who were vaccinated at a clinic last year, he said.

In total, Health Services usually distributes 3,500–4,000 vaccinations per year, said Michele Frontale, supervising pharmacist for SU Health Services, in an email.

Although Wednesday’s clinic is the only one giving out vaccinations, for now Health Services anticipates that roughly the same amount of vaccines will be used this year, she said.

Frontale said that the process, spanning four hours, should be quick despite the volume of people expected.

This is also the first year SU Health Services and the Onondaga County Health Department will coordinate the flu clinic together, Domingo said. Wednesday’s clinic is not only an opportunity for SU students and faculty to get vaccinated, but is also a test exercise in order to evaluate how well SU can immunize a large amount of people in a short amount of time, he said.

“SU has a memorandum of understanding with Onondaga County Department of Health that in any public health crisis we help the county out by immunizing or medicating our population should something bad happen,” Domingo said.

A report released by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield found that residents in central New York are three times more likely to get the flu because of low vaccination rates.

“When it is reported that CNY is most likely to get hit by the flu virus it is just a reminder of how important it is for the SU community to get vaccinated,” Frontale said.

Flu season starts in November and usually peaks in February, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Syracuse’s flu season extends further into the year, sometimes even as late as April or May, Frontale said.

A virus like the flu can spread easily on college campuses, where students are living close to one another, Domingo said. Because of this, he said, it is important to get vaccinated to ensure that both students themselves and others do not get infected.

Published on October 15, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu