Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska -- Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is a contagious virus that spreads around the United States annually, but usually peaks between October and May. It is projected that Alaska’s flu season will spike between January and April.
Because the vaccine loses effectiveness after a few months, the JBER hospital Allergy and Immunizations clinic recommends getting them sooner than later.
“Once [children] start getting sick, it takes time out of the parents’ day,” said Tech. Sgt. Stenneth Smith, 673d Medical Operational Support Allergy and Immunizations clinic technician. “When they stay home for their kid, that’s a loss of manpower. We are trying to prevent the loss of manpower ultimately and to accurately vaccinate our people so they remain healthy.”
Each year, thousands of people in the United States die from the flu and many more are hospitalized, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The flu vaccine can protect patients from getting the flu, lessen the severity of the flu, and prevent the disease from spreading even further.
The flu can affect everyone and last for several days. The symptoms include cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headache, fatigue and fever. The disease can also lead to pneumonia, blood infection, diarrhea and seizures in children. Infants, pregnant women and people 65 years of age or older with certain health conditions are at greater risk.
Patients should not get the vaccine while sick; if they have ever had Guillain-Barre Syndrome or a severe, life-threatening allergy to any component of the vaccine.
There is a chance of a mild reaction that lasts one to two days after receiving a flu shot. There might also be some soreness, swelling and itching where the shot was given.
“It’s just a regular intramuscular shot,” Smith said. “You come in, get it in the right or left deltoid (upper arm), which may cause slight soreness and redness. The effects might be felt within three days and the body will fully respond to [the vaccine] by the 14th day.”
Smith recommended waiting until the time the vaccine takes full effect before travelling because highly populated areas like the airport are common locations for the flu.
“Some people have a misconception that, ‘Oh, I got the flu shot and now I’m sick,’ Smith said. “No, the flu shot did not make you sick, it stimulated a greater immune response while you were already fighting an infection.”
Once the vaccine is introduced to the system, white blood cells have to first identify it as a foreign object, then try to create antibodies to fight off the infection. This process occurs between three-to-14 days depending on your immune system.
If a patient were to get sick before the two weeks, then they already have the flu virus and will start initiating symptoms because the flu virus would spread faster than the immune system could destroy it.
To accommodate units, buildings and shops that may have trouble releasing their Airmen, Soldiers and civilians during the clinic’s hours of operation, the Allergy and Immunization clinic provide flu lines in the units. The lines can be scheduled for groups of more than 40 people at the requester’s designated time and location.
“All I ask for is continuity with their people,” Smith said. “We can’t vaccinate two people, wait five minutes, and then vaccinate another two people. We need a constant flow of patients to maximize time benefit for the medical staff.”
Tuesdays and Thursdays are extremely busy, because those are the designated days patients receive allergy shots. Anyone can walk in Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. for immunizations, so those days have twice the patient numbers in the clinic which increases the wait time. The clinic is open all days except every third Thursday for training, all military holidays and family days.
The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson hospital doesn’t carry Army I.D. card holders’ immunization records, because they are on a different medical database. Patients need to bring all shot records to the Allergy and Immunization clinic the day prior to wanting a shot.
“We will not be processing shot records [the day of vaccination] during flu season due to patient volume,” Smith said. “It might be an inconvenience to you, but it won’t be an inconvenience to everybody. A patient can drop off their shot record and expect a 24-hour turnaround time, so they can take their shot if they still need to.”
The clinic can potentially provide service to the population of approximately 155,000 people. Last year, they vaccinated 38,000 people and as of September, they have vaccinated approximately 21,000.
“Expect increased wait times due to fluctuating manpower,” Smith said. “Things to make the process faster are to have your I.D. card ready and arm chosen. These little things add up when you are going by the seconds.”