UPDATE: Register for your flu shot here. Walk ups will also be accepted.
KOKOMO, Ind. — Indiana University Kokomo will host drive up flu shot clinics for the campus community on October 19, 20, 21, and 22.
IU is requiring all staff, faculty, and students, whose work or class schedule requires them to be on campus regularly, to get the annual flu vaccine by December 1, as part of its COVID-19 response. Information on how to sign up will be available in the very near future.
Susan Hendricks, dean of the School of Nursing, said while she encourages people to get their flu shot every year, it is especially critical this year.
“There’s a real worry people will get a COVID-19 infection as well as the flu, and they will become very ill,” she said. “Healthcare experts are urging everyone who is able to get the flu vaccine, especially this year. The flu vaccine will not prevent COVID-19, but it can help keep you healthy and out of the hospital.”
The clinic, which will be held in the campus parking garage, the campus Art Gallery, and the Main Building lobby, is for current faculty, staff and enrolled students only; it is not open to dependents or spouses of employees, or to retired faculty or staff.
Those with health insurance may provide information for their insurance to be billed during the online registration process. Vaccinations will be free to those without insurance.
Participants will sign up and complete paperwork online, then select an appointment time from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. They can then drive or walk up to the parking garage — at the surface level if weather is good, in the lower level if it’s rainy or cold — and receive the vaccine on October 19, 20, and 21. Shots will be available in the Main Building from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. October 20, and October 21. There will also be a walk-in clinic in the Art Gallery October 19, 20, and 21, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. October 22. Wearing short sleeves is recommended.
Hendricks noted that nursing faculty and students will help run the clinic, gaining valuable public health experience while providing a service to the campus community. Students who are experienced at giving injections will help administer shots.
“This is a great experience for students to see community health in action,” she said. “It gives students a chance to practice a skill, and also to see how we conduct something like this in an emergency.”
Jake Hobbs, environmental health and safety specialist, said while IU obtained a larger than usual number of vaccinations, it is not enough for everybody. As a result, the campus is requesting those with insurance to obtain their vaccination elsewhere.
Those who receive a vaccination outside of a campus clinic must fill out the Flu Vaccine Reporting Form.
Employees and students who are unable to get a vaccine due to a medical condition, or who have a religious or other ethical reason, can request an exemption. Employees or students who will not be present on campus between December 1, 2020, and March 1, 2021, can fill out the exemption request form.
The flu vaccine is recommended for all people 6 months and older who have no medical reason not to get one, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The flu vaccine clinics at IU will offer preservative-free, quadrivalent, single-dose vaccines. They are coming from two manufacturers and go by the trade names of Fluzone and Fluarix.
Neither the high-dose vaccine for those over 65 nor the eggless vaccine will be available at the university-sponsored clinics. Staff, faculty or students who need those types of vaccines are encouraged to seek them through an in-network provider under their insurance plan.
Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.
