County continues clinics for flu vaccinations

Vaccinations to be available at the county building in Bishop

Marilyn Mann, director of the county’s Health and Human Services Department, reported Tuesday that the county is continuing flu vaccination clinics, including a trip south last week to Shoshone, Tecopa and Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

Mann, speaking to the Inyo County Board of Supervisors, said during the trip her department conducted clinics for flu vaccinations as well as COVID vaccines.

Mann said the clinices served 34 people in Shoshone and Tecopa and 48 people in Furnace Creek.

She said the county for the year has administered 253 flu vaccines of the

400 vaccines the county currently has on hand.

Mann said the county was set to conduct similar clinics at the Calvary Baptist Church in Bishop on Tuesday, the Bishop Care Center on Wednesday and one at the Lone Pine Senior Center, 138 N. Jackson St., from noon to 2 p.m. today.

After today’s clinic, the county will be moving its flu clinics to the county’s Clint Quilter consolidated office building in Bishop. The clinics will be held from 1 - 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. People can make an appointment or drop in. The building is at 1360 N. Main St.

COVID boosters also will be available, she said, and can be administered at the same time as a flu vaccination but in different arms.

“So you really can’t sleep comfortably at all,” Mann quipped. “You can make appointments at myturn.ca.gov or just walk in.”

The flu

The California Department of Public Health reports the flu is a contagious disease that can cause serious illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that flu has resulted in 9 million – 41 million illnesses, 140,000 – 710,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 – 52,000 deaths annually between 2010 and 2020.

The CDC’s first full FluView report of the 2022-23 season shows that while flu activity is relatively low, “there are early increases happening in most of the country.”

According to the department, there are many reasons to get a flu vaccine each year:

•Flu vaccination can help keep you from getting sick with flu. Flu vaccine prevents millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths each year.

•Flu vaccination has been shown in several studies to reduce severity of illness in people who get vaccinated but still get sick, including reducing the risk of flu-related hospitalization.

•Flu vaccination can reduce the risk of potentially serious flu complications for people with certain chronic health conditions and can reduce the risk of a flu-related worsening of a health condition like asthma, diabetes, and heart disease.

•Flu vaccination during pregnancy helps protect pregnant people from flu during and after pregnancy and helps protect their infants from flu in their

first few months.

•Flu vaccine can be lifesaving in children.

• Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, including those who are more vulnerable to serious flu illness, like babies and young children, older people, and people with certain chronic health conditions.

“As the COVID pandemic continues into a third flu season, do your part to help reduce strain on California’s hospitals by getting the flu shot,” according to the CDPH.

CDPH recommends the annual flu vaccination for everyone six months of age and older. For more information and resources, visit CDPH’s flu webpage and the updated California Immunization Coalition (CIC) flu season communications toolkit.