Flu season winds down

As spring approaches so does the end of an already mild flu season.

“We’ve kind of slowed down on our flu shots already,” Walgreens pharmacist Jared Smedley said.

After kicking off in October the flu season will wrap up around May, Ector County Health Department Director Gino Solla said.

Unlike more extreme seasons, such as 2010 which featured the H1N1 virus, Ector County ended up with an overabundance of flu vaccines, Solla said.

“We purchased 700 doses of vaccine,” Solla said, adding that they administered almost 500 doses.

Flu vaccines protect people against the three main flu strains indicated to cause the most illness during the season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

The World Health Organization assesses what strain was prominent the previous year in the southern hemisphere to determine what vaccine should be used, Solla said.

“They use those strains for us,” Solla said.

It is recommended that children from six months old to 8-years-old be vaccinated, and children who didn’t receive the vaccine last year should get two doses this year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services website.

While the demand for flu vaccines is fairly constant there are more providers administering flu shots, Solla said.

There are about 30 providers in Ector County, Solla said.

Some of those providers are seeing a decline in flu shot requests too.

Unlike October, when they were giving about 10 flu shots a day, the Walgreens pharmacy is only giving a few flu shots a week now, Smedley said.

Currently, Medical Center Hospital is not offering any flu vaccine clinics to the public, MCH representative Amber Sweeney said.

But if people are still interested in having a flu shot to get them through the rest of the season, some pharmacies are still offering them.

“We still have it available,” Smedley said.

@OAhealth