Dropping temperatures and an influx of fall crops are indications that autumn is fast approaching — and flu season is coming with it. 

With the 2009 H1N1 flu strain a memory from the recent past, area health officials are spreading the word that flu vaccinations are available in many places throughout the community.

Winn Army Community Hospital now is offering vaccinations to all TRICARE recipients. The Liberty County Health Department is offering the flu vaccine and will begin immunizing children — with parents’ permission — at Liberty County schools in coming weeks.

“Those in close proximity to one another on a regular basis, as in our schools, are more vulnerable to getting and spreading the flu virus,” Liberty County Health Department Administrator Deidre Howell said. “It is impossible to predict how severe flu seasons will be, which is why it is so important that everyone 6 months and older gets the flu vaccine every year.”

The health department, school system and Fort Stewart Department of Preventive Medicine will join forces to offer voluntary, school-based vaccination clinics that are free and available to students between 4 and 18 years old.

The shots are available for free, regardless of a student’s insurance status, Howell said. Funding for the clinics comes from the Georgia Immunization Program.

The 2011-12 flu vaccine will protect against three strains of influenza virus: influenza A H3N2, influenza B virus, and 2009 H1N1 — and it’s important to get immunized annually because of mutations and evolutions of the virus.

The school system also offered shots in schools in 2009 to prevent the spread of swine flu, according to lead nurse Carol Darsey.

“It’s easier to prevent something than it is to treat it,” Darsey said.

It’s also more cost-effective, saving parents the money the shots would cost them at doctors’ offices and pharmacies. It is intended to reduce absences among students, which tends to drag down performance and pulls parents from their work.

Parents soon should receive consent forms and vaccine information statements that they must complete and return to the school by a designated time for their children to receive the shots, Darsey said.

Both shots and nasal sprays will be offered and administered according to parents’ answers on their children’s consent forms.
Children younger than 8 may need a second dose of the flu vaccine approximately one month after the first dose based on whether or not they ever have received the flu vaccine before, Darsey said. Free second doses also will be provided at schools, and parents will receive additional consent forms for those doses.

At the health department, residents can choose from a shot or nasal spray immunization, and both cost $25. The health department accepts Medicare, Medicaid and some health insurance plans, Howell said.

The shot is approved for use in people 6 months and older, including healthy people, people with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women, according to a Coastal Health District press release. The nasal spray is approved for use in healthy people between 2 and 49 years old who are not pregnant.

People 65 and older also may ask for a high-dose flu shot designed for their age group. It costs $40 per dose.

Flu vaccinations will be available at the Liberty County Health Department from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, call the health department at 912-876-2173 or the Winn ACH flu information line at 767-CARE.