The flu shot is an important way for everybody to help protect themselves and everyone around them from influenza. Influenza is a respiratory disease that can sometimes cause severe illness, and is easily transmitted from person to person through sneezing, coughing, or even just face to face contact. The number of people with influenza usually rises in the fall and early winter, which is why we call that “flu season”, and also why we start giving out flu shots at that time to maximize their protective effects.
Symptoms of influenza can include body aches, fever, fatigue, nausea, and cough, and can last for several weeks. They are usually worse in young children and the elderly, as well as people with certain health conditions.
This year is especially important to get the flu shot because of Covid-19. Influenza and Covid-19 share many of the same symptoms which makes them very hard to tell apart without being tested, and because of the similarity anybody with those symptoms would be required to get tested for Covid-19 and/or quarantine themselves for 2 weeks! Testing centers are already having trouble keeping up, and having to run extra tests for all the people with influenza will likely make that situation even worse. So its a good idea to be proactive and get the flu shot to protect yourself and your family!
Hills Pharmacy expects our supply of flu shots to arrive sometime between Oct 5 and Oct 19. Due to Covid restrictions, the procedures will be different from last year:
We will be making appointments for flu shots in order to try and reduce the time you spend waiting and make sure we don’t have too many people in the pharmacy at the same time. If you would like an appointment, please call us at 519-765-2880.
You can download the consent form here to fill out, or we will have them at the pharmacy. The form will ask for your health card number so please bring that along.
Please wear something which allows us easy access to your shoulder, as we are going to be aiming for your deltoid muscle. The target is approximately 1-2 inches below the shoulder bone, so if you can’t lift your sleeve that high you will have to take your shirt off. Any lower would be likely to hit the bone, and that can be quite painful. Higher can hit the bursa in the shoulder, which is also very painful.
And then you are done! We would like you to wait a few minutes after the shot to make sure you don’t have any side effects (the most severe ones such as allergic reactions happen within 10-15 minutes), but then you can head home.
We will only be giving flu shots at the Clinic location this year, as we do not have an appropriate area at our downtown store.
