Flu Shot

Flu Shot! Get your flu shot!

Well, yesterday I worked Mayo's employee mass vaccination clinic. It was held in a large conference room. We had 16 stations with three people at each, two nurses and a documenter. I was a documenter. One nurse prepared all the vaccinations and the other gave them. The count for the day, nearly 7200 vaccinations given. How amazing is that?
Mayo's goal was 1000 people an hour and we came pretty close! The idea behind these mass vaccinations is to test our preparedness in the event of a mandatory mass vaccination. I believe Mayo is prepared to handle such an incident should the need occur.
This was our third year practicing, and oddly enough, JCAHO was on campus yesterday for inspection, so they stopped by and were mighty impressed.

So, in essence, this post is to urge you to go and get your flu shot. I used to think they made me get sick more often, but have been educated and realized that I did not indeed have the flu all those times. As someone who is autoimmune and more at risk for getting sick, I have been faithful in getting my shots for the past five years. I haven't been really sick in all that time.
The vaccine doesn't cover all strains of flu, merely the ones the CDC thinks are going to make the most trouble. There is no guarantee of healthiness, and they can't possibly cover all strains, so you hope for the best.

And if you relax your arm, it doesn't even hurt!
Go get your flu shot! I did!