With assignments, midterms and reports all around, flu prevention might be far from your mind. But there is good reason to make it a priority. With a common cold you could miss a day or two of school and the chance of complication is low – but with the flu that is not so. Flu is characterized with high fevers, body aches and pains, exhaustion and fatigue that can last anywhere from 7 days (for fever) to two weeks (for exhaustion). Could you afford that much time off of school or work?
Luckily there are a few simple ways to help prevent the flu:
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water
- Keep your hands away from your face
- Cough and sneeze into your arm, not your hand
- If you get sick, stay home until your symptoms are gone
- Keep common surface areas clean and disinfected
- Last but not least, get your annual flu shot!
There are a few easy ways to get the flu vaccine. If you’re a student, staff or Faculty member you’re eligible to attend UBC Risk Management’s flu clinics (where shots are administered by Medicine, Nursing and Pharmaceutical Sciences students). The clinics run from today until November 27th and flu shots are free. Registration is easy and getting the shot won’t take more than an hour out of your day. Compare that to the week you could spend sick in bed and it seems like a manageable trade off!
If you’re not a student, staff or faculty member then you can either drop by your local pharmacy or our own Flu Clinic run by the Pharmacists Clinic. Registration is easy and getting the vaccine is even easier.
If the above reasons weren’t enough to convince you, contemplate getting the flu shot for the safety of others. It is those that can’t receive the immunization that are most at risk for flu complications. Thereby getting the vaccine will help keep them safe by helping to prevent you from contracting the flu and passing it along to others.
Do you have any questions about our immunization clinics? Ask them in the comments below!
– Ivan Yastrebov, Communications & Marketing
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