Boost Your Immunity at Fullerton College’s Vaccine Clinic on March 1
Health Services will host a Vaccine Clinic on March 1 starting at 11 a.m. in Building 200, Room 226 in partnership with Albertson’s Pharmacy. The vaccine clinic is open to students, staff, and faculty. Available vaccines include bivalent Moderna and Pfizer COVID boosters, flu, shingles, Tdap, meningococcal, MMR, hepatitis A &B, and pneumonia.
An appointment is highly encouraged. An insurance card is required for all vaccinations except for the bivalent COVID-19 booster, which will be free until May 11. Walk-ins are welcome but are limited to availability.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their immunization record card and must complete a printed consent form prior to vaccination. Complete the registration to make an appointment for the vaccine clinic.
Learn more about available vaccinations below. For more information, contact Health Services at 714-992-7093.
COVID Booster
Should you get a bivalent COVID booster?
They are free through May 11, 2023! The bivalent boosters have been available since September 2022. A recent study by the National Institutes for Health (NIH) shows that the bivalent boosters are 37 percent more effective than the original boosters in preventing severe COVID-19 and provide increased protection against hospitalization and death.
Recent studies have shown that the bivalent booster is more protective than previous boosters against the latest variants XBB/XBB1.5, yet only a small fraction of those eligible have received the bivalent booster.
Shingles
What’s that?
Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. Shingles is often very painful and causes itchy burning blisters in various parts of the body. It often causes long-lasting nerve pain in the area of infection called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).
Vaccination Recommendation
It is recommended that all adults 50 and over get 2 doses of the Shingrix vaccine. The vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing shingles and PHN. Adults 19 and older who have weakened immune systems should also get the vaccine.
Tdap
Do you need the Tdap vaccine?
Adults should get a Tdap booster every 10 years!
Why?
The Tdap vaccine can prevent tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis.
Tetanus causes painful stiffening of the muscles it is contracted from exposure to spores in soil, dust, and manure and can enter the body through open wounds. It can cause death in up to 13 percent of those that contract it. The vaccine is virtually 100 percent effective in preventing tetanus.
Diptheria can lead to difficulty breathing, heart failure, paralysis, or death. It is spread from person to person similar to colds and flu. It is rare but serious and is prevented by the Tdap vaccine.
Pertussis also known as “whooping cough” can cause uncontrollable, violent coughing that makes it hard to breathe, eat, or drink. Pertussis can be extremely serious especially in babies and young children, causing pneumonia, convulsions, brain damage, or death. Babies under 2 months are especially vulnerable as they don’t get their first vaccine until that age. You protect them by getting vaccinated!
Pneumonia
Should you get a pneumonia vaccine?
It is recommended that all adults 65 and older get a pneumonia vaccine.
If you are between ages 19-64 and have a chronic disease such as diabetes, liver or heart disease, any immunocompromising condition, or if you smoke- you should be vaccinated.
All children under 2 get this vaccine routinely.
HPV
Why get the HPV vaccine?
The HPV vaccine is a vaccine against cancer!
Almost every unvaccinated person who is sexually active will get HPV at some time in their life. About 13 million Americans become infected each year. Most infections clear on their own but some infections don’t go away and can cause cancer.
HPV can cause cancer of the cervix, vagina and vulva of females
HPV can cause cancer of the penis in males
HPV can cause cancer of the throat and anus in both males and females.
Since the availability of the vaccine- HPV infections have dropped 88 percent. HPV is estimated to cause 36,500 cases of cancer each year in the U.S. The HPV vaccine can prevent 33,700 of these cancers by preventing HPV infection!
Everyone through age 26 should get the HPV vaccine. Some adults between 27-45 may get vaccinated after consulting with a healthcare provider regarding risk of infection and possible benefits.
