With the temperature dropping and flu season advancing, UB will be unable to provide flu shots for nearly 3,500 students enrolled this semester, according to UB Health Services.
In the past, UB has provided vaccinations to students in order to prevent outbreaks of sickness on campus, but this year the corporation that provides UB with the medicine, Chiron, will be unable to release a supply for the fall 2004 through the winter 2005 period due to their license being suspended in Great Britain.
The news came as a shock to UB Health Services in the wake of a nationwide shortage of the vaccine. According to officials, attempts are underway to obtain a second supply, but because young people like UB students are not a priority for treatment, the chances of more medicine becoming available is unlikely. Instead, whatever medicine can be gathered will first be given to infants and the elderly.
"This is a reality that the whole country faces, not just UB. Right now there is a nationwide shortage of the vaccine," said Frank Carnevale, director of UB Health Services.
The people who are hit hardest by this announcement will be the students who do not commute or live within an hour's drive of the school, officials said. These students, the majority of them from the New York City area, will not have access to local health care providers to receive the shot and may have to just make due.
Given that it will be difficult to obtain flu shots, Carnevale said he would like to focus on what else can be done.
"I'd like to shift gears, and knowing we can't get flu vaccines, what are the non-shot actions we can take to stop the flu," Carnevale said. "In a way, these are more powerful than the shot itself."
"We are trying to mount an educational campaign," Carnevale added. "The majority of these items are common-sense, but you'd be surprised how many people don't take these actions."
The press release suggests several steps students should take in order to prevent illness this fall and winter. According to Carnevale, the theme for the next few months is "spread the knowledge, not the flu."
These methods include covering your mouth and using tissues when you cough or sneeze, not coughing or sneezing into your hands, putting used tissues into the wastebasket, and cleaning your hands afterward by washing them, Carnevale said.
Other preventative measures not mentioned in the press release include eating healthy, getting exercise, and taking regular vitamin supplements.
Carnevale also had added a few words of advice for anyone who does catch the flu.
"If you experience flu symptoms, stay away from other folks. If it is at all possible and you are sick from the flu, stay home from class, get the homework from someone," he said.
Carnevale's advice was little comfort to many students who said they were upset over this recent development, even if it isn't going to directly affect many UB students.
"I'm disappointed in the university for not working it out," said freshman Scott Causer. "I'm concerned about everyone else getting sick."
Others said they were concerned UB students would not be considered a priority in receiving any remaining vaccinations.
"Close proximity, barracks-style living arrangements, that sounds like a priority to me," said sophomore Dan Kotlewski.
