Students who want a free flu vaccine will need to show proof of insurance this year.
This is the first year students will need their insurance cards to get vaccinated at UF’s Student Health Care Center, said Catherine Seemann, SHCC communications coordinator.
The SHCC will be billing insurance companies for the cost of the vaccines.
The money received through this will be put toward SHCC projects, including building renovations, she said.
The SHCC doesn’t expect the requirement of insurance to affect student’s ability to receive the flu vaccine, Seemann said.
"The vast majority of students are insured," she said.
UF started requiring students to have health insurance Summer B 2014, according to the SHCC’s website.
Students are automatically billed for the student insurance plan unless they submit a waiver proving coverage.
Students will have two options for receiving the free vaccine: a shot or a nasal spray.
The nasal spray will only be available Friday on the Infirmary lawn, Sept. 22 on Turlington Plaza and Sept. 29 at the Reitz Union.
Researchers don’t yet know which vaccine is most effective in college students, said Dr. Parker Small, a professor in UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute.
"That’s why we offer both," he said.
Fewer than 10 percent of college students in the U.S. get the flu vaccine, Small said.
College students should get vaccinated to protect the elderly, he said.
"Our population is one-third college students," Small said. "It becomes particularly important in Gainesville because of the size of the university."
Catherine Caple, 21, said she wouldn’t be getting a flu shot because it doesn’t seem like a necessity.
"I know people who never had the flu, got the flu shot and then got the flu," the UF Spanish and linguistics senior said.
Although the SHCC usually sees the most flu cases in January and February, last year there was a high number of cases in September, Seemann said.
"It was strange — we saw more cases earlier," she said.
Because there’s no way to tell if the flu will be bad this year, Seemann said students should get vaccinated sooner rather than later.
Ryan Thomson, 26, said he will get a flu vaccine on campus.
"I’m around too many students to not," the sociology teaching assistant said.
The SHCC will start vaccinating most students next Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Infirmary’s front lawn.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @Ceostroff
