Roll Up Your Sleeve
We’re already seeing the reminders at the pharmacy, the doctor’s office, on TV. It’s time to get a flu shot.
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, if you live, work or attend school in Anne Arundel County, you can get your shot without leaving your vehicle at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
From 11am to 6pm or until the 1,000 doses are used up, free shots are given on a first-come-first-served basis to all over six months old.
“I suggest people come early,” said David Mandell, deputy director of the office of emergency management. “It’s as easy as pull up, fill out the paperwork, roll up your sleeve. Then you’re done.”
Consent forms are available to fill out in advance online: aahealth.org.
“There will be two waiting lanes, an express lane for vehicles carrying one or two adults and a family lane for vehicles with children and more than two individuals,” Mandell said. A parent or guardian must accompany children under 18.
Vehicles are then directed into one of four vaccination lanes, where health department and Anne Arundel Medical Center nurses are armed with the quadrivalent vaccine that protects against four different flu viruses.
“We may have limited doses of the Fluzone high-dose vaccine for ages 65 and older,” said Elin Jones of the health department. The high-dose vaccine creates a stronger immune response as our immune defenses weaken with age.
The drive-though clinic serves another purpose, testing the city’s pandemic response plans.
“Every year we conduct a city-wide exercise like this to test our capabilities to do something like a mass inoculation,” Mandell said.
“Each year in the United States, thousands of people die from seasonal flu-related complications and approximately 200,000 people are hospitalized from seasonal flu-related causes,” warned Annapolis Fire Chief David Stokes. “Flu vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the flu.”
Adults should wear short or roll-up sleeves; babies and toddlers should wear shorts.