Peak flu season is right around the corner, as made apparent by the growing number of mid-lecture coughs sounding throughout auditoriums and classrooms across campus. Each cough expels thousands of microbes that ricochet across closed spaces and into the respiratory tracts of vulnerable students.
To combat the severity of the flu, a disease that kills an estimated 6,300 – 52,000 people each year, the CDC recommends the seasonal flu shot. Research shows that the flu shot can significantly reduce the impact of influenza on infected persons and greatly alleviate the burden on our health care system that flu season causes.
Over the past few weeks, there have been multiple opportunities for students to receive the flu shot on campus, at pop-up tables in locations such as the Grove Stage and the Circle. At these tables, the shot is offered free with insurance, at your insurance’s co-pay or, if neither of those work, $40 will be charged to your bursar account.
These efforts are certainly commendable, but they’re not complete. Current initiatives could be expanded to offer a greater front against the coming flu season by eliminating the cost barrier to treatment.
The potential answer? A university-led campaign to offer flu shots free to all students, staff and family of staff, with the potential to dampen the effects of the upcoming flu season and lighten the load on our local health care providers.
Vaccinating our university community without charge not only would act as a boost to the campus immune system as a whole, but also would dismantle a common barrier to health care in our state: cost.
Approximately 1-in-10 college students lack health care in the United States, a number likely to increase as slashes to Medicaid, part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, are set to take effect. Historically disadvantaged students comprise the majority of those uninsured and are expected to bear the brunt of our government’s reckless spending cuts.
The university has a golden opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to its students and community in offering free flu shots. Also, having a greater share of the student population vaccinated against the flu has the potential to improve functionality of the university and quality of life for our Oxford-Lafayette community.
Decreasing the instances of flu infections could increase student class attendance, potentially raising grades and the benchmark of academic performance here at the UM. With fewer students out with the flu, less unnecessary stress is placed on the shoulders of both students and faculty.
Schools act as epicenters of disease outbreaks, and any available precaution should be taken for the sake of public health. Minimizing communicable disease instances in emergence hotspots, such as our campus, would offer significant reprieve to local health care providers and allow them to focus heavier on other ailments.
Assuming responsibility for flu vaccinations would not be a frivolous expense on behalf of the university — it would be a wise investment in the efficacy and health of our campus, city and community.
Logan Durley is a sophomore biological sciences major from Olive Branch, Miss.
