ORLANDO, Fla. – You have another opportunity to get a free flu shot this week.
News 6 and AdventHealth Centra Care have partnered for free flu shot clinics around Central Florida. The next and final clinic will be Thursday from 2-5 p.m. in Clermont at the Centra Care at 2345 E. Hwy 50. You can get your vaccine without insurance and free of charge.
Doctors say this is the best time to get your vaccine.
“The flu is upon us. We’re already seeing cases in Centra Care. It’s going up about 10% per week. And we expect that to go a lot higher,” AdventHealth Associate Medical Director Dr. Scott Vanlue said.
“The peak season is really in December, January. So you need your shot now so your body can start to make those great immune factors that help to fight off the flu,” he said.
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Children, people who are pregnant, seniors 65 and over and people with preexisting health conditions are most at risk from complications from the virus.
“The sad fact is only about 45-50% of the population get their flu shot, so it puts 50% at risk for a pretty significant disease,” Vanlue said.
Vanlue wants to remind the community that getting the shot will not make you sick.
“The flu vaccine is not a live virus,” he said. “So you cannot get the flu from taking the shot. You can have a local reaction, a little bit of malaise just from your body making these immune factors to the shot.”
Over 100 people came out for the clinic on University Boulevard on Tuesday.
“Oh, this does my heart good to see this. We see, obviously the flu, but this season, we’re also seeing a lot of COVID. We’re seeing RSV. Not to mention all the bacterial infections that come during the winter, and so it’s just one less thing that we have to worry about.”
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