It’s still not too late to get your flu shot

Believe it or not, it is still early in the flu season.

The peak of the flu season is expected between December and March, so it is still not too late to get a flu shot.

The Douglas County Department of Health has been recording influenza cases since the beginning of the flu season, designated as Oct. 1. To date, there have been 96 laboratory confirmed influenza cases in Douglas County. This is more than was reported for the same time period in the previous two influenza seasons.

Learn more about influenza reporting in Nebraska here. More than 50 percent of hospitalizations for influenza-like illnesses were in patients under the age of 4 or over the age of 65 (the most vulnerable populations).Only one death has been attributed to influenza in the state of Nebraska.

Colleagues show off their shots.

In September, Mark Rupp, M.D., chair of the UNMC Division of Infectious Diseases and medical director of the Nebraska Medicine Department of Infection Control & Epidemiology, shared some information on the UNMC Infectious Diseases blog about this year’s flu vaccine and UNMC/Nebraska Medicine’s institutional efforts to vaccinate employees and students to protect patients and each other.

Already, UNMC/Nebraska Medicine is approaching the target of greater than 90 percent compliance for multiple employee groups across campus.

Currently, more than 85 percent compliance among employees on inpatient units has been recorded, and a significant uptick in compliance is expected in the coming weeks.