![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
BBC MUNDO RADIO
......................................................................................................
By Angie Thompson, The Tifton Gazette, Ga.
Sep. 6--TIFTON -- The Tift County Health Department is offering a drive-through flu shot clinic from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11. Health officials are urging everyone to get the seasonal flu shot to protect themselves and others.
Each year, up to 20 percent of people in the United States gets the flu and 36,000 die from it.
"The flu vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and your family against seasonal flu," said Lynne Feldman, M.D., district health director.
The seasonal flu vaccine offers no protection against the H1N1, or swine flu, infection but it will help prevent what health officials call "co-infections."
The Tift County Health Department, at 305 E. 12th St., charges $20 for each seasonal flu vaccine. The agency does accept cash, Medicaid, Medicare and some insurance plans. Also, some pharmacists are offering the shots. Approximately 150 people have gotten the shots at the health department since they began giving them Tuesday.
Robert Branch Sr., 82, and his wife, Delia, 80, received their seasonal flu shots at the Tift County Health Department Thursday morning. The couple said they get their flu shots every year there and would come back and receive their H1N1 vaccines when they become available in October.
Feldman stated in a press release that there are concerns that if people are infected with H1N1 and seasonal flu, there could be a more serious disease circulating. Children in schools and daycares are a major source for flu contamination.
According to the CDC, groups who should get the seasonal flu vaccine yearly include: anyone 50 years old or older; women who will be pregnant during influenza season; children six months through 19 years of age (children who are receiving the vaccine for the first time will receive two doses at least one month apart); persons of any age with certain chronic medical conditions; people who have contact with others who are at high risk for complications from the flu; nursing home and other long term care facility residents and staff; home and out-of-home caregivers of children less than six months old, as these children are too young to be vaccinated; and all health care workers.
Debra Adams, nursing and clinical director for this health district, said that the seasonal flu vaccine will begin to protect a person approximately two weeks after receiving it and continue to protect for up to a year.
According to the CDC, the groups at highest priority to receive the swine flu vaccine are children six months to 24 years old; pregnant women; household contacts and caregivers for children younger than six months; people with chronic diseases such as diabetes or asthma; and health care and emergency medical services personnel.
To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.
-----
To see more of The Tifton Gazette or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tiftongazette.com/.
Fale com o Ministério
disque saúde 0800 61 1997
Ministério da Saúde - Esplanada dos Ministérios - Bloco G - Brasilia / DF
CEP: 70058-900 Sphere: Related Content
