Editorial

Get that flu shot

The good news is that there is plenty of flu vaccine this year. The bad news is that many area residents won't get a flu shot, raising both the risk to their own health as well as to others.

There were nearly 31,000 confirmed cases of influenza in Missouri last year. There's no telling how many more cases didn't require medical attention. Nationwide, a quarter of a million Americans wound up in hospitals because of complications caused by flu. And the worst statistic of all: 36,000 U.S. deaths attributed to flu.

Flu clinics have already started in some areas of Southeast Missouri and are planned in others. Voters at some polling places this year, including the Arena Building in Cape Girardeau and in Bollinger County precincts, will be able to get flu shots. This is a new nationwide program called Vote & Vax, and it is an attempt to make getting a shot as easy as possible. If you're going to make the effort to go a polling place, you might as well get a shot too.

There are all kinds of excuses for not getting flu shots, but the fact remains that protecting yourself and others from potentially deadly strains of flu is a one of the smartest decisions you will make all year.

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