Maureen Caparas really didn\u2019t want to get a flu shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat looks like a big needle,\u201d she said nervously on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t have a choice.<\/p>\n
As an employee of Juneau\u2019s public health clinic, she\u2019s required to get immunized. Everyone else in the clinic had their shot the day before, and now it was her turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried everything: coughing, looking away, having people talk to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keep breathing,\u201d said Lindsey Taylor, Juneau\u2019s public health nurse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s good advice,\u201d Caparas said, and with a quick poke and a shiny Band-Aid, it was over.<\/p>\n
Oct. 1 is the official start of flu season in Alaska, and health centers across the state are getting their vaccines ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of vaccines in the state,\u201d said Gerri Yett, the influenza immunization coordinator for the Alaska Section of Epidemiology. \u201cWe purchased over $2.2 million\u201d as part of the state\u2019s bulk-buying program.<\/p>\n
The state buys in bulk to reduce costs and then sells to local clinics. The idea is to reduce the toll taken on Alaskans by the flu every year.<\/p>\n
Every year, the flu affects thousands of Alaskans, leaving many homebound and some bedridden.<\/p>\n
It also kills. According to statistics kept by the Alaska Section of Epidemiology, seven \u201cadult influenza-associated deaths were reported by health care providers or identified\u201d in a search of death certificates.<\/p>\n
Donna Fearey, the state\u2019s flu surveillance coordinator, said the death toll was likely higher, and only confirmed cases are listed.<\/p>\n
\u201cInfluenza \u2014 it\u2019s really hard to paint a picture of what\u2019s going on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In 2015-2016, Alaska\u2019s flu season spiked in March and April after starting to intensify after the first of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn general, that was a late peak in our activity,\u201d Fearey said. \u201cSome years, we\u2019ve had peak activity as early as November.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no telling when flu season will peak \u2014 \u201cYou can only know in retrospect,\u201d Fearey said \u2014 and because it can take two or more weeks to build immunity after a shot, public health officials recommend action early.<\/p>\n
Like Caparas, plenty of Alaskans don\u2019t like getting vaccinated. This year, however, there won\u2019t be an easy alternative.<\/p>\n
The state is advising against the use of a nasal-spray vaccine, and it hasn\u2019t bought any as part of its low-cost program.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the nasal spray, marketed with the name FluMist, was found to be ineffective by an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody likes a vaccination, a shot \u2014 bottom line \u2014 but it is one of the best protections we have against flu,\u201d Yett said.<\/p>\n
An immunization is like distributing \u201cwanted\u201d posters to your body\u2019s immune system. Armed with that ID, your immune system responds promptly to any of the four flu strains within the immunization and keeps you healthy.<\/p>\n
A different flu strain could still make you sick, but epidemiologists have become talented at predicting which flu viruses will circulate in a given year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s based on what we saw, what the World Health Organization saw, in the Southern Hemisphere earlier in their flu season,\u201d Yett said.<\/p>\n
Flu shots don\u2019t just protect individuals, they also protect Alaska as a whole, Yett explained.<\/p>\n
If enough people are immunized, the disease can\u2019t spread.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not be yourself you\u2019re trying to protect, but it may be children under 6 months of age who are too young to be vaccinated or someone going through chemotherapy,\u201d Yett said. \u201cIt is the best protection that we have against flu, and if you don\u2019t do it for yourself, do it for others.\u201d <\/p>\n
Getting shots<\/strong><\/p>\n Flu shots are available at the pharmacies in Safeway, Fred Meyer and Costco. On a visit Thursday, the Costco immunization was $15 without insurance and took 9 minutes and 47 seconds from paperwork to Band-Aid.<\/p>\n At the Juneau Public Health Center near Twin Lakes, staff are allowed to immunize anyone from six months old to 29 years old. Public health staff can provide immunizations to older Alaskans during exercises intended to train staff for an epidemic. The next drill is Nov. 5.<\/p>\n Many doctors in private practice can provide flu shots.<\/p>\n Flu shorts are covered by most insurance programs, and there likely will not be a charge if you are insured.<\/p>\n \u201cI know as a state employee, I\u2019m covered if I go to any pharmacy,\u201d Yett said.<\/p>\n Bartlett Regional Hospital administers flu shots only to staff and already-admitted patients.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter James Brooks at 523-2258 or james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n Read more news:<\/strong><\/p>\n Troubling Twitter account: Assembly candidate Quayle talks lactation with big-bust models on social media<\/a><\/p>\n Alleged drunk driver crashes car, leaves own passenger behind<\/a><\/p>\n Group of Alaska Democrats endorse independent in Senate race<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maureen Caparas really didn\u2019t want to get a flu shot. \u201cThat looks like a big needle,\u201d she said nervously on Thursday afternoon. She didn\u2019t have a choice. As an employee of Juneau\u2019s public health<\/a> clinic, she\u2019s required to get immunized. Everyone else in the clinic had their shot the day before, and now it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-25081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25081"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}