This morning, I woke up and felt horrible. My throat feels like I swallowed a whole apple, my body aches, I’m shivering, yet sweating at the same time, and I just know I’m sick. There’s only one thing that could be behind it: the flu.
Despite efforts of the campaign “Making Alabama a No Flu Zone,” this year, flu season has come at its earliest in the past decade. Peak flu season doesn’t usually hit until January, but Alabama and Mississippi have been hit hard and early, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Sept. 4,the University made flu shots readily available throughout campus, with stations set up in buildings and extra nurses hired to go into faculty offices.
Should I have gotten a flu shot? According to the University of Buffalo, flu spreads like wildfire on college campuses because of close-knit living conditions.
Getting a flu shot didn’t even seem pertinent to me when the school year started. I noticed the flu shot tents hanging around on the Quad, but I never thought I would need one, let alone even get the flu. I mean, I live by myself, take vitamins everyday and wash my hands after leaving the bathroom.
The CDC, on their website, puts college students as one of the “at risks” that really need to get a flu shot every year, but it seems that still, students have the lowest flu shot rates. Now that Dead Week has arrived, my worst nightmare has come true. I have the flu.
According to USA Today, most people don’t get flu shots because they hate needles, or they feel it will make them sick.
Interestingly, a study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center said colleges and universities that implement day-long campaigns or give out flu shots at sporting events can increase the number of students getting the annual flu shot.
It’s strange because I’m not the only “healthy” person I know who neglected the flu shot and now has the flu. Getting a flu shot still doesn’t seem like the best option, especially since there has been false information spread about the flu shot’s safety on places like YouTube since 2009, according to an article by PRNewswire.
I’ve been consistently purposeful to take very little medication and get a lot out of diet and exercise, which now seems to be not enough of an effort. But the debate remains: is a flu shot the only way to avoid the flu?
Sophia Fazal is a senior majoring in anthropology. Her column runs biweekly on Wednesday.
