Editorial: Student vaccination essential as flu season approaches

With sniffles and coughs already echoing through crowded lecture halls, the UCLA community once again has to decide whether to get a flu shot.

Scientifically speaking, the choice is obvious: Every member of the UCLA community that can get the vaccine should get it as soon as possible.

Getting the vaccine is a public health responsibility, said Dr. David Baron, executive director at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center. If anyone in the UCLA community gets influenza, they put friends and colleagues at risk because of the contagious nature of the virus.

The protection from three strains of the influenza virus highly outweighs the minimal time and effort it takes to get the influenza vaccination. Since the body takes two weeks to develop immunity, and with flu season already underway, vaccination should be a top priority.

The Ashe Center makes the process extremely simple and affordable: All students are offered free vaccines after any appointment. There will also soon be flu fairs where the center sets up stations on campus to allow students to drop by and quickly get a free shot between classes.

On average, a person infected with influenza will pass the disease to between two and six people before they are no longer contagious.

The problem lies in the inaccurate, yet commonly accepted, arguments against getting the vaccine.

Baron said his patients’ arguments against the shot are based on misconceptions about the vaccine. Many believe they will not contract the virus since they haven’t had it before, and others believe they can get sick from the shot itself.

The first argument is simply a case of good luck. Just because you have not had the influenza virus does not lower your chances of being in contact with someone harboring a contagious strain of virus.

The second argument – that the shot itself causes the flu – is scientifically invalid, Baron said. It is impossible for a healthy body to get influenza from the vaccine since the viruses used in the vaccine are dead.

Any short-lived symptoms one may feel after a shot are caused by the body’s immune system producing the antibodies to fight the infection that the vaccine mimics. These symptoms last a day or two at most.

In fact, the only valid physiological reasons for people not to get the vaccine are allergies to eggs – since the vaccine is developed with them – and compromised immune systems.

It is a responsibility for the UCLA community to get the influenza vaccine, not only for students to keep themselves safe, but also to prevent influenza from spreading to friends, family and colleagues.