UGA combats the flu with mobile clinics on golf carts

#beWellUGA

Since September, the University of Georgia’s University Health Center has been going around campus to provide free flu shots to students. With the first mobile flu clinic being offered at the #BeWellUGA Fest on Sept. 10, several other locations such as campus dining halls, libraries and student housing spaces were also visited by the clinic.

Ben Cooper, a third-year pharmacy student, administers a flu shot to Cemiya Thomas, a first-year majoring in public health, on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. #flUGA hosted a pop-up clinic at Pharmtoberfest on campus, offering flu shots to University of Georgia students, staff and faculty with no out-of-pocket costs. (Photo/Katherine Davis)

Students were asked to bring their UGA ID as well as their insurance information, with no out-of-pocket costs for anyone, no matter their insurance status.

Hannah Lawrence, a third-year pharmacy student, prepares to administer a flu shot to Jake Barnes, a second-year pharmacy student during Pharmtoberfest in Athens, Georgia on Tuesday, Oct. 29. #flUGA hosted a pop-up clinic at Pharmtoberfest on the University of Georgia campus, offering flu shots to University of Georgia students, staff and faculty with no out-of-pocket costs. (Photo/Katherine Davis)

“It’s a really simple process. It takes very little time out of your day — at least it did for me,” Brooke Curran, a public administrations graduate student who received a vaccine from the clinic, said.

“It’s a really simple process. It takes very little time out of your day — at least it did for me,” Brooke Curran, a public administrations graduate student who received a vaccine from the clinic, said.

Flu season is now in full swing: Cases typically start to rise around October, with peaks happening betweenDecember and February, according to Cleveland Clinic. According to the clinic, symptoms often include coughing, a runny nose, fever and aches.

After nearly two months of offering the vaccine around different locations, the number of students who were showing up had declined over time, according to Hailey Hultberg, a senior biomedical physiology major and clinic assistant at the flu clinic.

“They recommend that you get a flu shot two weeks before flu season really kicks in, which would be around this time, to really help you develop the antibodies to it, because it takes around two weeks for your body to get used to being introduced to the virus or the vaccine,” Hultberg said. “Because of that, we have given a lot of the vaccines already, so numbers are starting to decrease.”

A flu shot station set up during Pharmtoberfest at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. #flUGA hosted a pop-up clinic at Pharmtoberfest on South Campus, offering flu shots to University of Georgia students, staff and faculty with no out-of-pocket costs. (Photo/Katherine Davis)

While the mobile flu clinic is no longer active, UGA students and staff are able to go to the UHC to receive a flu shot. For walk-ins, the center offers the shot on Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and appointments can be made through the UHC Patient Portal for students and by calling or making an appointment at the UHC Allergy Travel Clinic as well.

by Madison Linton