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Friday, March 29, 2024

With flu season in progress, the UF Student Health Care Center is urging students to take precautions.

The center sent an email Thursday encouraging students to take action against the flu, including getting vaccinated and taking daily preventative measures such as using hand sanitizer.

Alachua County health department administrator Paul Myers said the end of January is peak flu season for Alachua County. UF Health Shands Hospital has seen more than 150 flu-related admissions and a dozen connected deaths since late October, according to a news release.

“We are seeing an increase in severity of flu this year, as reported by Shands,” Myers said. “We’re seeing vast majorities succumb to the disease that were not vaccinated.”

The Student Health Care Center has run out of vaccines for the season, according to the email.

Myers suggests students get vaccinated at a local pharmacy or the county health department.

“We really encourage individuals to get vaccinated so they can be protected for the rest of the year,” he said.

However, some students such as Matt Burke, a 20-year-old UF environmental engineering sophomore, said they were not planning on getting vaccinated.

“I figured I’ll take my chances,” he said. “I’m not against vaccines. I just don’t think it’s necessary for me.”

A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/10/2014 under the headline "UF health center warns about peak of flu season"

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