Influenza vaccine clinic to occur at Augusta Prep - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

An influenza vaccine clinic will occur from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, October 9 at Augusta Prep's Hutchinson Gallery in the Hull Fine Arts Center.

Employees from the Columbia County Health Department will be on campus to offer the injectable vaccine at a cost of $25. FluMist also will be offered at a cost of $35, and the High Dose Flu Vaccine (for those older than 65) will be available at $45. Payment in the form of cash or personal check will be accepted; a picture ID is requested.

Individuals with the following insurance plans will incur no "out-of-pocket" expense if a copy of the insurance card is supplied to the Columbia County Health Department: Medicare, Medicaid, Peachcare, and United Healthcare. Vaccines will be available to Augusta Prep students, friends, family, and the general public. 

Augusta Prep students aged 9 and up may receive the vaccine without a parent present if there is signed permission and payment from the parent.

Anyone wishing to reduce his or her risk of contracting the seasonal flu should receive the vaccine. Especially vulnerable to complications from infection are children between the ages of six months and five years, pregnant women, individuals aged 50 and older, and those with chronic medical conditions. Influenza infections are responsible for some 200,000 hospitalizations in the country each year, and about 36,000 deaths. The 2012-2013 influenza vaccine protects against A-type H1N1, A-type H3N2, and an influenza B virus (from the b/Yamagata lineage). If a child aged six months to eight years is receiving the influenza vaccine for the first time, it is recommended they receive a second dose in four weeks; otherwise only one vaccine is required.

The injected vaccine is derived from a killed, inactivated virus, and cannot cause the flu. The vaccine is not recommended for those allergic to chicken eggs, babies younger than six months, those with a current moderate to severe illness (until feeling well), individuals with a history of an adverse reaction to influenza vaccine, and individuals who developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome within six weeks of previously receiving the flu vaccine. FluMist can be received by healthy individuals 2 through 49 years of age, who are not pregnant. It is not recommended for those with heart, kidney, liver or lung disease, nor those with diabetes, asthma, anemia or other blood disorders. For more information, contact Augusta Prep's school nurse, Tammilee Lloyd, at tammilee.lloyd@augustaprep.org.