The Christian County Health Department will give flu shots at a drive-thru clinic from 8 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Tie Breaker Park.
The flu shot clinic will coincide with the health department’s ongoing COVID-19 testing, which normally runs from 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays at Tie Breaker Park. Participants will have the option of using one service or both, officials announced in a Facebook post. The entrance is through the Stadium of Champions parking lot of LaFayette Road.
There will be a charge for the flu shot: $30 for a regular dose and $50 for a high dose (people ages 65 and older). Insurance will be accepted with a valid insurance card. There is no charge to be tested for COVID-19.
“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses, like flu, this fall and winter is more important than ever,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises in an update to its seasonal flu-prevention recommendations.
Medical professionals are warning that outbreaks of influenza amid the coronavirus pandemic could overwhelm physicians’ offices and hospitals because the flu and COVID-19 share many of the same symptoms.
Kaiser Health News reported: “If enough of the U.S. population gets vaccinated — more than the 45% who did last flu season — it could help head off a nightmare scenario in the coming winter of hospitals stuffed with both COVID-19 patients and those suffering from severe effects of influenza.
“Aside from the potential burden on hospitals, there’s the possibility people could get both viruses — and ‘no one knows what happens if you get influenza and COVID [simultaneously] because it’s never happened before,’ Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, told reporters …”
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Image from Kaiser Health News
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
