It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
The CDC and Dr. Z agree
The 2010-2011 flu season began in early October and, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the season will probably peak in January or February and possibly stretch into the spring. CDC recommends everyone 6 months or older get vaccinated and, unlike last year, says it's not necessary to get a separate shot to protect against the seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus. "The 2010-2011 flu vaccine will protect against an influenza A H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the 2009 H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last season."
At Chicago O'Hare, flu shots have been available at the airport medical clinic since August and at a stand-alone kiosk since Labor Day. "We don't know what the flu season will be like this year yet," says Dr. John Zautcke, Medical Director of the UIC-O'Hare Medical Clinic, "But the flu is a nasty disease that kills people who are old and sick and puts people that are young and healthy in bed for 4-6 days."
Zautcke says that in addition to frequent hand washing, covering your nose and mouth when sneezing and trying to avoid close contact with sick people – which can be hard to do on an airplane – "The best thing travelers can do to avoid the flu is get a flu shot."