Flu shots

Several hundred area residents streamed into the Osage Community Centre in Cape Girardeau Wednesday to get H1N1 flu shots. Enough vaccine is available through the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center that it is no longer limited to high-risk groups.

As usual, the health department set up an efficient clinic that resulted in a process about 10 minutes from start to finish. Two more H1N1 clinics are scheduled: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 30 at the Delta Community Center, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 8 at the University of Missouri Extension Center in Jackson.

A limited amount of seasonal flu vaccine also will be available at the clinics.

Nationwide, approximately 10,000 deaths so far have been attributed to the H1N1 flu virus. Seasonal flu viruses result in about 36,000 deaths each year.

In Missouri, state health department officials say 11 deaths have been attributed to H1N1 flu, but, according to a story in Thursday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "It's thought that many more people have died from H1N1 than has been officially recorded."

Flu viruses -- both seasonal and H1N1 -- are still around. Getting shots for both is a good way to avoid getting the flu.