GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As coronavirus remains top of mind for everyone, influenza season is upon us.
On Saturday, Brown County Public Health tried something in hopes of keeping influenza numbers down in our area.
“I think we’re at a critical point, we need to come together as a community to help stop the spread,” Brown County Public Health Officer Anna Destree said.
People in Green Bay came together at West High School, for Brown County Public Health’s first ever drive-through flu shot clinic, free of charge.
“I wanted to get my kids vaccinated and I didn’t want to have to bring them in anywhere they could be exposed to anything else,” Sara Christiansen of Green Bay tells FOX 11.
“With all the COVID, I think it’s really important to get the flu shot to prevent anything that we can.”
This year we’re getting hit by the flu and the coronavirus at the same time. And health officials tell FOX 11 they share many of the same symptoms: “Headaches, chills, fever, extreme tiredness, coughing, sneezes,” Destree said.
“The difference is we have a flu vaccine so people can come get a flu vaccine and it’s one more thing we can do to prevent,” Destree finished.
A similar drive-through flu shot clinic, that was scheduled for Thursday, October 22 at Edison Middle School, was called off because of severe weather. That meant they were expecting more traffic on Saturday.
“We have seen a good steady turn out all day so far,” Brown County Public Health nurse Kate Long said.
Long was behind the weeks of planning that went into it.
“We had to think about staffing, how we were going to keep the vaccine safe, and how we were going to be able to safely give [it] in cars… because that’s not something we’re used to.”
“We’re seeing how this works, we’re seeing how well we can move vaccine in this format,” Destree said. “If it works well we will use this similar format for COVID when the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.”
Some health experts are referring to this fall season as a “Twindemic”, because they’re concerned people who get the flu could confuse it for the coronavirus. FOX 11 asked Destree how serious she thought that problem was.
“It’s serious, and that’s why we want to do what we can to prevent the flu because that something that we have control over. We do know that we have a flu vaccine, that’s why getting the flu shot this year is critical.”
Studies from the CDC show that flu vaccinations reduce the risk of of getting the flu by between 40% and 60%.
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