By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Mosaic Life Care encourages residents to get their flu shot after seeing a number of cases last month.
Across Mosaic campuses in St. Joseph, Albany, and Maryville, the hospital saw 30 flu cases in October.
Dr. Scott Folk, a specialist in Adult Infectious Diseases at Mosaic, says the best way to prevent the flu, is to get your flu shot
"Now the flu shot doesn't guarantee that you won't get the flu, but if you do get the flu, chances are it won't be as severe as it otherwise would have been had you not gotten the flu shot," Folk tells reporters during a news conference at Mosaic.
Folk says you cannot get the flu from getting the flu shot, and it takes two weeks to build up those antibodies after getting the shot
"By far the best and most important thing that we have to offer to prevent flu is the flu shot," Folk says. "So, I would strongly recommend that, yes."
Folk says he's sure the numbers will continue to rise, especially with the time of year it is.
"People huddle together indoors, they cluster together in schools, the weather is getting colder outside so it's less time outdoors more time indoors huddled together which facilitates and makes it easier to transmit person to person through coughing or sneezing or talking, one person to another," Folk explains.
Folk says it’s hard to know how many people have gotten flu shots with how many different places you can get them. The goal of getting them anywhere, Folk says, is easier access.
"Not just be confined to having to come to a doctor's office, but the thought there was to make it easier for them to go and get a vaccine at maybe a time that the doctor's office that was closed," Folk points out. "That's the whole goal is to try to get more people vaccinated, so if we can make it easier for them to be vaccinated, then hopefully more people will get vaccinated."
Flu shots are available at local pharmacies, health clinics, your local doctor, or you can go to Mosaic Life Care.
Flu season begins to ramp up in December and could last as late as March.
