The Traveler

Issue date: 8/29/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Thomas Krapausky Lyn Edington, nurse manager at the Pat Walker Health Center, demonstrates part of the immunization offered by the Health Center. The Washington County Health Department has been assisting the UA in giving students shots during the first week of school.

Hundreds of UA freshmen might have saved money and safeguarded their health this summer if they took advantage of free immunizations at orientation, said a Pat Walker Health Center official.

Because of a statewide abundance of three types of vaccinations, the Washington County Health Department was able to offer immunizations to the new students free of charge during summer orientations. The vaccinations would have expired before the health department could have used them, said Lyn Edington, Nurse Manager at the Pat Walker Health Center.

"They weren't giving as many vaccinations as they wanted to at the health department," Edington said. "So we supplied the space, and they [the health department] supplied the vaccinations."

More than 1,200 incoming freshmen received at least one of the three vaccinations offered - measles, mumps and other illnesses common on college campuses, Edington said.

Nurses from the Washington County Health Department attended new-student orientations throughout June and August, with a the surplus vaccinations.

One vaccine offered was Adacel for protection from diptheria, whooping cough and tetanus. Also a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella and a new vaccine, Menactra, for meningitis protection.

Before Menactra, meningococcal vaccinations only protected a person for four to five years, Edington said, but the new vaccine offers immunization for a lifetime.

Students had a choice of all three vaccinations, and some opted out of getting immunized at all.

The availability of the vaccinations at no cost led to a dramatic increase in the number of vaccinations given during the orientations, Edington said.

In 2006, the health center vaccinated 246 students against meningitis. Over the course of the summer, the health center vaccinated more than 1,100 students with the Menactra vaccine, Edington said.

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