Dallas County Public Health Nursing Services (DCPHNS) is encouraging everyone to get their yearly flu vaccination. “The flu vaccine is safe and it saves lives,” said Shelley Horak, Executive Director. “Healthy people, including healthy children and young adults, can get very ill from the flu and can spread the flu to others. By getting a yearly flu vaccine you can protect yourself from illness, and protect those around you.” It’s especially important to be vaccinated if you have regular contact with people more vulnerable to the complications of flu, including babies, children with asthma, and the elderly.
DCPHNS will hold vaccination clinics for the public on Monday, September 8th from 2:30-3:30 at the Dallas County Hospital in Perry and on Tuesday, September 9th from 3:00-5:00 at the Public Health office located at 902 Court Street Adel. DCPHNS can bill Medicaid, Traditional Medicare or self-pay is $25. The Center for Disease Control recommends annual influenza vaccinations for everyone 6 months of age and older. This year’s flu vaccine is plentiful and available in both the injectable (‘shot in the arm’) and mist (‘spray in the nose’) options; the vaccine protects against four of the most common flu viruses expected to circulate this year. Influenza is a respiratory illness causing fever, headache, extreme tiredness, muscle pain, dry coughing, sore throat, and runny nose. The flu virus is spread when people who are ill cough or sneeze without covering their mouths and noses. Others get sick when they breathe in the air containing the flu virus. A person can also get the flu by touching a surface or object (like a door handle) that has been touched by someone with the flu (who coughed into their hand), and then touching their own mouth, eyes, or nose.
For more information on influenza, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/Cade/Influenza.aspx?pg=FluHome.