Campus prepares for upcomming flu season

Kara Willingham

The flu bug has made it’s way to Saddleback College and in order to keep influenza at bay, the Health Center will be offering flu shots on the fifteenth and nineteenth of October. For 16 dollars, students can get a flu shot. Faculty and staff will be charged 20 dollars for their shot, and 25 dollars for friends and family.

“It helps prevent influenza and bolsters the immune system,” said Michael S. Luft, registered Saddleback nurse. “It helps prevent sickness in the middle of winter when students are busy writing papers, taking finals or going skiing.”

Symptoms of fatigue, tiredness, high fever, extreme sore throat and cough can keep anyone in bed for days, which is why the school has provided these shots each year.

“We do it every year and we give out 500 shots,” Luft said. “I think the reason why students, faculty and staff come in to [get] flu shots is because they are cheap and readily available on campus.”

The Saddleback Health Center is charging the students such a low price for the vaccine in order to promote a healthy winter on and off campus, said Luft.

Although the two dates are the designated days for students to get flu shots, the Health Center will be supplying the vaccine until winter break.

“Students and faculty should get the flu shot so they do not become infected with the flu and miss important days of class or infect fellow classmates,” said Lurdes Ricketts, Senior Health Office assistant. “All of the staff in the Health Center receives shots [also] so that we can better serve our students.”

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