Ashe Center combats low vaccination rate, needling students to get free flu shots

UCLA has the highest flu vaccination rate in the University of California system, but many students are still unvaccinated, leaving them at risk for illness.

UCLA administered shots to nearly 11,000 students last year, said Geno Mehalik, a spokesperson for the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center. Still, Mehalik said not enough students are getting vaccinated.

Students can get their flu shot for free by making an appointment at the Ashe Center. The Ashe Center also hosts various flu vaccination fairs in Bruin Plaza from September to January, typically vaccinating 3,000 students in two days by the end of October every year, Mehalik said.

The Ashe Center has already seen around 270 cases of flu-like symptoms as of mid-November, and the number is expected to rise as the flu season progresses.

“There is always room for improvement until we have a 100 percent flu vaccination rate on our campus,” he said.

Many students said although they are aware of the resources available at the Ashe Center, they cannot find time in their schedules to wait in line for the shot.

Ruben Viramontes, a fifth-year electrical engineering student, said he knew flu vaccinations were covered by the UC Student Health Insurance Plan, and had received flu shots on campus before. However, he was busy with classes.

Eric Fang, a first-year physics student, said he saw the flu fair organized by the Ashe Center but said because the flu typically lasts only about a week, he was not worried enough to stop by.

“I knew about the free flu shots when I walked past the Bruin Plaza, but I was busy and didn’t stop,” he said.

He said he wishes the flu fair was held on the Hill, because it is more convenient for students living on campus who would be more likely to wait in line for the vaccination.

Brendan Flannery, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said many sensitive populations, such as the elderly or sick, are put at risk when healthy adults don’t get vaccines. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the targeted vaccination rate for the U.S. is 70 percent by 2020. However, the national average vaccination rate for college campuses is barely above 20 percent, according to a paper published by the National Institutes of Health.

Syona Khanna, a fourth-year political science student, said mandating the flu shot similarly to the way UCLA mandates other vaccinations might minimize these risks.

“The school makes (tuberculosis vaccinations) mandatory, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t make the flu shot mandatory,” she said.

Flannery said while he is not sure if the flu shot should be mandatory, he hopes the death rate from the flu last year will motivate people to get vaccinated. Last year, the flu caused 80,000 hospitalizations and several thousand deaths in the U.S.

Therese Abely, a fourth-year biology student, said she has been getting the flu shot for years and learned about the free flu shots distributed by the campus clinic from Facebook. She said she encourages her friends to get vaccinated.

“I’d rather spend twenty minutes taking (a) flu shot than spend a whole week being sick,” she said. “It’s so easy.”