Iowa Doctors Don’t Want You To Forget About Getting This Shot

Since the year 2020, most times when you heard about needing to get a shot, it was related to covid or the covid vaccine. Add on the covid vaccine boosters, other shots have taken somewhat of a backseat. Iowa's Nurse Association of Johnson County as well as Iowa City Hospice want to remind you to not forget about getting a flu shot.

According to KCRG, last year the Nurse Association and Iowa City hospice reportedly saw low rates of flu shots being administered. By December of 2021, they gave out around 3500 flu shots, which was down 500 from the previous year.

Colette Hartley is a VNA/Iowa Hospice Community Program director she spoke about rates declining across the nation and not just in Iowa. According to KCRG, she said

That was around the time that the booster became available for the COVID-19 vaccine. And so I think a lot of people at that time were focused on getting that booster shot.

I will admit, I personally haven't ever thought about getting a flu shot. I've been a pretty healthy guy for most of my life and I always figured it was better to allow the elderly and people who are sick to get Flu shots first. It's never been something of much concern to me. Maybe this year I should look into getting one. I'm not saying this is the right thing to do either. If you want to and believe you and your family should get a flu shot, you should get one.

Hartley wants to remind people there are plenty of clinics to get your flu shot and the VNA and Iowa City Hospice are trying to get the word out so the flu vaccine numbers can be brought up this year. They have 65 clinics scheduled so far. According to KCRG, she said

Right now we have a total of 65 clinics scheduled. It’s not a matter of not a lot of places doing vaccinations. It’s just trying to get the word out to the public that they are available and they’re at convenient locations.

According to Dallas County Iowa, flu season normally peaks in February but it can become prevalent in early October and/or stick around as late as May. As today is the last day of September, now is the perfect time to find a clinic near you, and protect yourself for the upcoming winter months.