St. Cloud VA Medical Center Hosting Flu/COVID Vaccine Clinics

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud VA Medical Center will host six vaccine clinics over the next two weeks, offering flu and COVID jabs.

Pharmacist Kristin Bartels tells KNSI Radio they are coming at just the right time. “It’s what we now call the respiratory virus season, which we obviously want to help protect all of our veterans from. We’ve got the influenza starting an uptick, as well as COVID-19 is making a resurgence, it looks like.”

The walk-in clinics will be held Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, October 15th, and October 16th, all from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. An evening clinic is scheduled for Friday, the 17th, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. The clinic slate wraps up on Saturday, the 18th, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. They’ll take place inside Building 96.

Flu season typically begins to ramp up here in late October as cold weather pushes people indoors. Bartels talks about the science behind the shots. Experts use data from what is prevalent in the southern hemisphere, where it is winter during our summer months, when formulating the vaccines for us.

She says, “We have three different strains that they’ve determined they think are going to be the ones based on what they saw in the southern hemisphere, and the vaccines we offer, they’re going to hit those three and block them. Hopefully, making your immune system recognize those – they’re ready for them.”

Bartels recommends that vets set up a separate appointment for the RSV vaccine.

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