November 4, 2008
Voters at three polling sites in Charlotte can roll up their sleeves for a flu shot after casting their ballot on November 4 thanks to students and faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a local pharmacy.
The clinics are part of Vote & Vax, a nationwide project that will provide influenza vaccinations at hundreds of polling sites across the country on Election Day.
Each site will be staffed by students from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as well as experienced pharmacists from Pike’s Pharmacy and the Charlotte Area Health Education Center who will administer the injections.
Jennifer Barbour, one of the pharmacists from Pike’s and a preceptor for the pharmacy school, organized the Vote & Vax effort in Charlotte.
“November is an optimal time to get a flu shots for best protection throughout flu season,” Barbour said. “This program fills a huge need. It takes care of a lot of folks who may not have gone out of their way to get their flu shot yet.”
The flu vaccines will be offered at the following polling sites: Merry Oaks Elementary School, Shamrock Gardens Elementary School, and Windsor Park Elementary School. The clinics will run from 6:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. People do not need to vote to receive the vaccination. For those who do vote, the flu vaccines will be administered after they have cast their ballots so as not to interfere with the voting process. The shots are free for those with Medicare coverage and $25 for everyone else.
The participating pharmacy students are in their fourth year in the doctor of pharmacy program at UNC and are completing their clerkships at the Charlotte Area Health Education Center. Barbour; Joan Settlemyer, the director of pharmacy education at the Charlotte AHEC; and Jesse Pike, the owner of Pike’s Pharmacy, will each oversee one of the sites.
Vote & Vax is organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Sickness Prevention Achieved through Regional Collaboration. On Election Day in 2006, the program delivered 13,790 influenza vaccinations at 127 polling places in fourteen states.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 36,000 people die from influenza each year in the United States. The CDCP recommends flu vaccinations for people fifty years of age and older, children between six months and nineteen years old, pregnant women, people with certain chronic medical conditions, people who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, and people who live with or care for those at high risk for complications from flu.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Flu Shot FAQ
Latest News
Dean Angela Kashuba receives Carolina Alumni Faculty Service Award
RASP poster presentations capture student research
