<p>Are any of you guys with kids living in dorms recommending that they get flu shots? S1 has always gotten one because of asthmatic problems, but I have never gotten them for the younger two. S2's school is offering free flu shots on campus and I'm thinking it might be a good idea. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>All three of my Ds have been offered the chance to get the flu shot on their respective campuses, and our family doctor has recommended it, so they will.</p>
<p>Yeah, my son said his college is giving flu shots for $20. I said - GET ONE!</p>
<p>My kids got their flu shots through our HMO. We always do.</p>
<p>My D has diabetes so had first priority for her flu shot at school.</p>
<p>Dorms are enormous stews of viruses. When the students go home at Christmas, they all bring their local viruses back with them--and keep in mind that two weeks of illness can ruin a semester. It's not cheap to repeat a semester!</p>
<p>Get the shot.</p>
<p>Just last week, I emailed my son info about flu shots at his school. He needs to make an appointment, and hasn't yet done so, although I reminded him yesterday. So, I guess I'll have to see what he does. I am a big believer in vaccinations -- I like my kids to have anything available! He's already had a bad cold, and I can only believe it will get worse over the winter months, so I hope he follows through. The impact of getting really sick during the quarter would really make it tough to do well in his challenging courses. I don't care what the cost of the flu shot is -- given the cost of his tuition, it's priceless!</p>
<p>I just sent him an email telling him to go get the shot and will reinforce this when I talk to him tonight. Thanks.</p>
<p>my son got FluMist two days ago at a pharmacy near his campus. He found it from the FluMist website. FluMist was easier to get than a shot. Some places seem to still be waiting for their vaccine orders to be filled. The Student Health Center was going to be a pain the rear. They don't have any clinics to try to vaccinate a large portion of the campus. Students have to pick a personal physician at the Health Center and go in for a doctor's appt before they can get a flu shot there.</p>
<p>A tad bit off-topic but I felt this might be a good idea for the paranoid parent...</p>
<p>Ok...On Monday I was diagnosed with whooping cough, very contagious and very annoying illness. It appears that in the past few years that it has been found that the vaccine given as an infant only lasts for about 5-10 years on average. In May, they approved a booster for whooping cough to be given to teenagers along with their tetnas booster. It is unlikely that they would even get whooping cough in college, but it's becoming more common in high school. This shot is approved for people aged 11-18 from the literature I've read and will protect for again, 5-10 years. There isn't a shot approved for people 19+ atm, but they are working on it I hear.</p>
<p>This is rare to get as an adult, but I'm a 23-yr old graduate student with no contact with children and got it....just a little food for thought...</p>
<p>My university has been offering walk-in flu shots for $5 - I'm going in to get one today.</p>
<p>I don't think I ever was vaccinated against whooping cough - is it one of the "standard" childhood vaccinations?</p>
<p>Duke offered them for free about a week ago. The lines were unbelievably long (stretching all the way around the Bryan Center). My allergies are causing me more trouble than viruses right now. :eek:</p>
<p>tanman - yes, the whooping cough vaccine is a standard. Whooping cough's real name is "pertussis" and most infants get the DPT vaccing - diptheria, pertussis and tetanus. My guess is that you got it.</p>
<p>Both my kids contracted pertussis as middle schoolers. It was the sickest they have ever been--it was very frightening-- and lasted 6 weeks. That's a booster shot worth getting.</p>
<p>My 16 yr old just got his tetanus booster the other day and it was paired with pertussis.
I was pleasantly surprised when my D told me weeks ago she had gotten her flu shot without us reminding her. She said her school had set it up where students with certain conditions got them first. She was happy she had done it early when she saw the lines last week when she was in the health center waiting room.
Husband always gets one. I never do but I think that I will this year. D has always gotten them since she has asthma. I hadn't thought of getting the other kids one. 16 and 11 should I be getting them one as well?</p>
<p>Why not get a flu shot? As far as I know, the only concern is if one is allergic to eggs, the virus is dead.</p>
<p>My kid has been trying to get a flu shot but his college's medical service won't give him one. He's asked multiple times and they continue to say he's not "high priority".</p>
<p>So I guess having one bad kidney and asthma doesn't put you on the "high priority" list? P****es me off. Our family at home got ours a week ago through our HMO, but I heard on the radio today that they've run out of all their vaccine for the year, so S can't even get one when he comes home for Christmas (which is too late, in my opinion). What is he supposed to do?</p>
<p>Wow, Mootmom! I did not know your S's school was so stingy. Here is what the Harvard Gazette recently published (notice that renal condition and asthma are considered high priority) </p>
<p>HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES</p>
<p>Flu shots available thru mid-December
It will not be too late to be immunized for the flu if one waits until November through mid-December. Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) expects immunization for all patients to be available in early November.</p>
<p>In order to avoid delays or shortages, HUHS preordered privately purchased influenza vaccine last spring for the 2005-06 flu season. HUHS implemented the first high-risk immunization clinics starting Oct. 13.</p>
<p>Although influenza vaccine guidelines have officially been lifted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Harvard University Health Services is continuing to follow previous CDC guidelines until the full supplies have been received.</p>
<p>The guidelines for high-risk patients are:</p>
<h1>Persons over age 65</h1>
<h1>Children ages 6 to 23 months</h1>
<h1>Persons ages 2 to 64 years with chronic conditions - cardiac or pulmonary conditions, including asthma, chronic metabolic disease (diabetes, renal dysfunction, immunosuppressive illnesses), and those with any conditions that compromise respiratory function</h1>
<h1>Persons ages 6 months to 18 years receiving long-term aspirin therapy</h1>
<h1>Pregnant women</h1>
<h1>Health care workers involved in direct patient care</h1>
<h1>Household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of children less than 6 months of age</h1>
<p>Mootmom- I'd suggest that he go to one of the clinics listed here:</p>
<p>I don't know Cambridge well enough to know which one would be closest to him, but I know that the one on Linnaean street is just a short walk from the Harvard T-stop.</p>
<p>Also CVS and Walgreen's have flu clinics. S always got a flu shot (even in California), and D will get one as well. I'm getting mine this afternoon at 4 through work.</p>