An estimated 2,000 AU students, faculty and staff have received the swine flu vaccine at the Student Health Center’s two recent clinics in the Mary Graydon Center, according to Dan Bruey, Health Center director.
The university expects another shipment of the vaccine in the next two weeks, Bruey said. The number of doses AU receives depends on the District’s distribution to other local colleges and universities, Bruey said. So far, AU has received higher numbers of the vaccine than other D.C. universities, he added.
About 1,100 members of the AU community were vaccinated at the first clinic on Nov. 20 and about another 900 people were vaccinated Dec. 1, Bruey estimated. Additional students, faculty and staff received the vaccine Wednesday afternoon at the Washington College of Law.
The line for the first clinic stretched out the door of MGC, down the stairs between MGC and the Battelle-Tompkins Building and across the Main Quad to the steps of Hurst Hall.
The clinic opened around 8:30 a.m., earlier than its scheduled 9 a.m. opening.
Russell Reichers, a sophomore in the School of International Service, got in line at 8:30 a.m. at the top of the steps next to MGC for the first vaccine clinic. He said he knew a few people who had swine flu and thought he had a moderate chance of getting it himself. But he got the vaccine because his parents wanted him to get it.
For the second clinic, there was a small line of people waiting for the 10 a.m. opening.
Bruey was a little surprised there was only a short line for the second clinic, but probably “people were not as nervous” about the vaccine, he said.
“Either students are too busy or they’ve decided they’re not going to get the vaccine for whatever reason; they don’t feel they’ll get sick, they’re taking their chances, you know, that type of thing,” Bruey said. “Or people might just think, ‘I’m not aware of it, there may be apathy ... I’d rather work on finals or projects or the end of school than to deal with that.’”
Some students, like Alexa Desko, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, chose not to get the swine flu vaccine because of its possible side effects.
Desko got the seasonal flu vaccine, and she feels she has already been exposed to swine flu, she said.
“I’ve been making sure to take vitamins or taking care of myself so I don’t think that I’m as at risk as other people, so I’ve just been trying to use alternative ways to stay healthy,” she said.
Desko said she knows people who have had swine flu who have told her having the disease is “not too bad.”
“I’m not that worried about it,” she said. “I think it’s a lot of hype.”
Desko said her friends were sick for only a few days. However, Bruey said it is important for people to receive the swine flu vaccine since serious complications, such as pneumonia, can result from the H1N1 virus.
So far, no students have reported adverse effects of the vaccine, Bruey said. A few students have reported redness around the shot area, yet that is normal, he said.
Mike Rourke, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, is also choosing not to get the vaccine, although he got the seasonal flu vaccine. Rourke said he does not have a pre-existing medical condition so he felt the swine flu vaccine was not necessary.
“If [swine flu] is only going to bother me for a couple of days, I’d rather take the chances than get a vaccine I don’t really trust,” he said.
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