Flu season is here and clinics in Rock Island have been offering vaccines since September.
The Rock Island County Health Department say because of vaccine hesitancy, rates have been low across the board. However, Dr. Michael Persson at MercyOne Genesis says he’s seen more patients with greater knowledge on the subject.
“The number of patients that understand that viruses are viruses, and we don’t have antibiotics, which kill bacteria and not viruses, that’s become almost common knowledge among our patient population,” says Persson. “There’s been more patients that ask which vaccine I should get. And as a practitioner, as a primary care physician doctor like myself, I welcome those questions. “
Dr. Persson encourages people to check with their primary care doctor for guidance.
“Patients say this to me a lot, ‘well I had the flu vaccine, and I still ended up with influenza’, and my retort to them is, ‘yeah, did you end up in the hospital or have some bad outcome like die from it?, ‘no, I was actually only sick for a day or two.’ That’s the point. A vaccine may not be a plastic bubble where you may not get the disease, however, it reduces the severity of the disease if you are exposed to it,” says Dr. Persson.
The Rock Island County Health Department will offer their final clinic of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 21, with their goal to give immunizations to anyone who wants to be vaccinated.