Get Your Shot: Rockland Flu Clinic Scheduled for Oct. 3

The Rockland County Department of Health will hold a flu vaccine clinic on Friday, October 3, 2014 from 1 pm – 4 pm in the Robert L. Yeager Health Center, Building A Exhibition Hall, located at 50 Sanatorium Road in Pomona.

The flu vaccine is free of charge to adults 65 years and older (please bring identification with proof of age). No appointments are needed. Patients with Medicare and Medicaid must bring their cards. Those 9 through 64 years of age can receive the vaccine, but will be charged a $30 fee. Each patient must bring proof of Rockland County residency such as a driver’s license or utility bill.

Traditional flu vaccines, made to protect against three different flu viruses, are called “trivalent” vaccines.

In addition, there are flu vaccines made to protect against four different flu viruses, called “quadrivalent” vaccines.

The cost is $30 (for those ages 9 – 64) because the Health Department will be giving the preservative free, quadrivalent flu vaccine, which offers protection against the four different flu viruses that research shows will be most common during the upcoming flu season: two influenza (flu) A viruses and two influenza B viruses.

“Getting the flu vaccine is the main way to prevent the flu and its complications,” said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Rockland County Commissioner of Health.

The flu is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Even healthy people can get very sick from the flu and spread it to others.

Everyone 6 months of age and older should get the flu vaccine as soon as it becomes available each year.

It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against the flu virus. In the meantime, you are still at risk for getting the flu. That’s why it’s better to get vaccinated early in the fall, before the flu season really gets under way. The protection you get from the flu vaccine will last throughout the flu season.

As the Health Department receives more shipments of the vaccine, additional flu vaccine clinics will be scheduled. For more information about the flu and the flu vaccine clinics visit https://rocklandgov.com/ departments/health/programs-and-services/flu/ or call (845) 364 – 2520.