It’s not bad enough that we have to put up with flu season, now we have two different strains to contend with. The regular seasonal flu is still around and it’s recommended that children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems especially, be immunized to protect them from serious complications that may arise from the infection.
Swine flu is quite another story. This is a particularly nasty virus that can be fatal and it’s recommended that every last one of us get a shot in the arm against it, especially the over 65 crowd, children, pregnant women and those with health concerns such as diabetes, asthma, cancer, HIV/Aids, heart or kidney disease. That means some of us will have to endure two needles.
The next step is finding out where and when to go to get these shots. Government health-related web sites are good places to start. In the U.S. go to Flu.gov. There’s a map at the top of the page. Simply click on your state and it will take you to a page with a heading near the top of the page that says “Flu shot locat0r.” Click the appropriate button and get a listing flu shot locations and the dates they will be in operation. Looks to me like all of the states have the same page set up.
In Canada, go to the Public Health Agency of Canada website and you will find a similar map about half way down the page. Click on your Province or Territory to arrive at a page with flu information from your Provincial or Territorial Government. Look for a button to click that will take you to clinic schedules. For example, Ontario’s page has a button to click on near the bottom left-hand side of the page that says “Important information about scheduling your flu shots this year.” That will take you to the clinic information. For B.C. a box near the top right-hand side of the page says “Find your local flu clinic.”
So, I guess in Canada each of the Provinces and Territories were told to come up with their own pages. That makes it harder to tell you where to look, but the information is there.
Both Flu.gov and the Public Health Agency of Canada have a ton of information about the flu, including how to protect yourself and others, frequently asked questions about the H1N1 vaccine and knowing the difference between the seasonal flu and Swine flu.
