Adams County Health Department offers flu vaccines

QUINCY (WGEM) - Those at Adams County Health Department said they’re making it easy for people to protect themselves as the outlook for this year’s flu season worsens.

“What the CDC does is look back at what last year’s flu season did and use that to predict what flu vaccine we’re going to provide and what the flu season ahead of us is going to look like,” nursing director Emily Hendrickson said.

She said last year’s flu season went all the way until April.

Hendrickson said they recommend anyone six months or older get the flu vaccine. She said the vaccine is available at the health department on a walk-in basis from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. She said it will also be available at a number of community clinics they will host throughout the county.

Hendrickson said this year also marks the first time they are offering the pneumococcal vaccine at their community clinics. She said getting the single dose vaccine can provide a lot of protection, especially for those 65 and older.

“They have a lowered immune system so getting them the pneumonia vaccine actually covers them from 20 different strains of pneumonia so it’s a really important thing to protect and it keeps people out of the hospital, it keeps them healthier and it’s highly recommended by the CDC,” she said.

Hendrickson said those 65 and older automatically qualify for the pneumococcal vaccine. She said adults ages 19 to 64 are able to get the vaccine if they have certain comorbidities like alcoholism, chronic heart disease or a cochlear implant.

Hendrickson said you can get the flu and pneumococcal vaccine at the same time. She said you can also get the flu shot and COVID vaccine at the same time as well.

The schedule for the community clinics is below:

• Sunday, September 25: John Wood Community College, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m..
• Monday, October 3: Liberty Elementary School, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m..
• Tuesday, October 11: Camp Point Community For Christ Assistance Center, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m..
• Thursday, October 13: Payson-Seymour Elementary School, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m..
• Wednesday, October 19: Central High School, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m..

The dates and times at two other clinics at Unity Elementary School in Mendon and the Quincy Senior Center have yet to be decided.

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