Health professionals gear up to give 900 shots at Prince William County’s “flu-thru”  on Oct. 13

The Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) Prince William Health District will be giving 900 free flu shots via a drive-thru clinic, rain or shine, on Saturday, Oct.13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to toddlers, children, teens and adults (age 3 and up), at the James J. McCoart Building Parking Lot located at 1 County Complex Court off Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge, VA 22192.

Alison Ansher, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Prince William Health District.  was quoted as saying in a press release, “Influenza is a serious disease that everyone should be vaccinated for annually.  The vaccine gives the vaccinated person the best chance to fight the flu.”

Influenza, or “the flu,” is a highly-contagious respiratory disease. Typical flu symptoms include fever, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headache, muscle aches, and extreme fatigue. The flu season in northern Virginia usually peaks in January and February. Each year in the United States approximately 200,000 people are hospitalized due to flu illness, and flu-related deaths range from 3,000 to 49,000 each year—averaging 24, 000—over the last three decades. Annual vaccination is especially recommended for these high-risk groups:

• Persons at high risk for complications, including children ages six months to five years, pregnant women, people 50 years of age and older, people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions, and people who live in nursing homes and other long term care facilities.

•  People who live with or care for those at high risk for complications, including household contacts of persons at high risk, household contacts and caregivers of children less than six months of age (these children are too young to be vaccinated), and health care workers.

For more information on the flu-thru clinic, call the Prince William Health District at (703) 792-6345.  For further information on influenza, visit http://www.vdh.virginia.gov.