Sometimes, living in Hawaii where we hardly notice the seasons change and enjoy our tropical winters, it sneaks up on you that we’re in “flu season” again and it’s time to get your flu shot. Island Pacific Academy holds a flu shot clinic each fall for free as a service to our students and families. Students in grades K-8 can receive either the nasal or injected flu vaccine if their parent has given permission.
For information about the flu and flu vaccines IPA checked in with two alumnae, both of whom are pursuing degrees in the medical profession, for answers.
“Flu season can start as early as August and goes through the spring,” says IPA alumna Alexis Perez (‘12)*, who works as a part-time health aide at the school while pursuing her degree in nursing at Chaminade University in Honolulu. “When people get the flu they can get really, really sick. For young children and the elderly it can even be deadly.”
IPA sixth grade student, Nathan, getting the flu vaccine today at school.
Muriah Kayser (‘10)**, a 2016 PharmD Candidate at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, explains that what goes in the flu shot each year changes. “Currently, the trivalent influenza vaccine contains three strains (H1N1 – like virus, H3N2 – like virus, and B – like virus) and the quadrivalent vaccine contains an additional B – like virus. Some years, the different strains used vary depending on previous years efficacy of the influenza vaccine.”
Students Koa and Izaiah got their flu shots today.
Kayser says it is important to get the flu shot each fall. “Each year, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) releases new recommendations regarding who should receive an annual influenza vaccination. Everyone older than six months old should get the flu shot and regardless of the possibility of the flu shot not preventing all strains of the flu, some protection is better than no protection.”
As a person working in the healthcare industry, Kayser is required to get a flu shot and says she is more than happy to do so. “It is important that we, as healthcare professionals, help prevent any possible flu epidemics in the community. I am constantly around patients with compromised immune systems and I am willing to do anything to help reduce their risk.”
A letter will go home with each student who receives a flu vaccine providing parents with more information about the vaccine and any possible reactions. (Most parents already received the letter electronically on Tuesday.) More information can also be found here.
IPA alumna Alexis Perez (’12) gives instructions to fellow classmate Alyssa Chuberko (’12) who volunteered to help greet our young students coming in to the flu shot clinic.
Perez says, “We want to prevent the flu from spreading and getting your flu shot helps protect you and the people you come in contact with.” She suggests that parents and students who were not able to get a flu shot at today’s clinic check with their primary care provider (PCP) or seek out one of the many sites in the community that offer either free or low-cost flu shots.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends “a yearly flu vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older as the first and most important step in protecting against this serious disease. People should begin getting vaccinated as soon as the flu vaccine becomes available, if possible by October, to ensure that as many people as possible are protected before flu season begins.” (from What You Should Know for the 2015-2016 Influenza Season http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season-2015-2016.htm)
Muriah Kayser (’10) will obtain her Doctorate in Pharmacy in May 2016; Alexis Perez (’12) will graduate from Chaminade University with a BSN in 2018.
*Alexis Perez, IPA Class of 2012, has been a Certified Nurse Assistant since August 2013. She is enrolled in Chaminade University’s School of Nursing BSN Program and will graduate in 2018. Perez wants to pursue her Masters of Nursing to become a Midwife.
**Muriah Kayser, IPA Class of 2010, will graduate from the University of Wyoming with a Doctorate of Pharmacy in May 2016. She has had five Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) Rotations: Poudre Valley Family Medicine Center in Fort Collins, CO (Ambulatory Care), King Soopers in Cheyenne, WY, (Retail/Community Pharamcy), Presbytarian/St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver, CO (Internal Medicine I & II), and University of Wyoming Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention in Laramie, WY (Academia). The future Dr. Kayser plans on working in a community pharmacy (retail environment) upon graduation.
