{"id":65840,"date":"2018-01-29T16:06:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T22:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=65840"},"modified":"2018-01-29T16:06:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T22:06:33","slug":"health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/","title":{"rendered":"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say ‘No, thanks’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ilana Marcus<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/i><\/p>\n

Liz Solheim waited to pick up a prescription at a Walgreens in Lakeview Tuesday evening, where the sign out front announced, \u201cCome and get your flu shot\u201d in red LED lettering.<\/p>\n

She had not gotten a flu shot this season, and doses of the flu vaccine were available for sale. It could not have been easier to get the shot, but Solheim, 30, was not interested.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess my mind was sort of already made up,\u201d she said of her decision to remain unvaccinated. While she knows people who have contracted the flu this season, including her employers and some friends, Solheim is comfortable taking her chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really get sick that often,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Those, like Solheim, who have not been vaccinated against the flu this season, are the intended audience of a news release published by the Chicago Department of Public Health Tuesday, which emphasized that it is not too late to derive protections from the vaccine.<\/p>\n

The flu vaccine \u201cdecreases the severity of illness and the duration of symptoms,\u201d said the release, drawing similarities between the seasonal patterns of the current flu epidemic and the 2014-2015 flu season, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted was longer than usual.<\/p>\n

CDC predicted there are still many weeks of elevated flu activity left, according to the release.<\/p>\n

Pharmacists at a number of Lakeview pharmacies said that there are still customers coming in for flu shots. Several CVS branches have run out of the vaccine, but pharmacies at Walgreens and Mariano\u2019s still had doses available on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

Pharmacist Brianna Goen of Mariano\u2019s Pharmacy on North Broadway in Lakeview said that at least seven people had come in for flu shots since the beginning of this week and that Mariano\u2019s is making sure to keep the vaccine in stock.<\/p>\n

Colleen Pacanowski, 32, was vaccinated in October. She said that some years she misses the window for vaccination, but this year she \u201cjust happened to have the time,\u201d adding that most of her friends do not get the flu shot.<\/p>\n

Both Pacanowski and Solheim indicated that their upbringings contributed to their choices around vaccination.<\/p>\n

Solheim described her household growing up as an easy-going, \u201cwait till it breaks to fix it\u201d kind of home. \u00a0She said that most of the people who have questioned her choice to forego flu vaccination were \u201cthe kids who were always taking a pill for something growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, Pacanowski said that her mom, who worked in a health profession, always encouraged her to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom is a firm believer,\u201d she said. \u201cFlu shot for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Sign advertising flu shots at a Walgreens (Ilana Marcus\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ilana Marcus Medill Reports Liz Solheim waited to pick up a prescription at a Walgreens in Lakeview Tuesday evening, where the sign out front announced, \u201cCome and get your flu shot\u201d in red LED lettering. She had not gotten a flu shot this season, and doses of the flu vaccine were available for sale. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":65841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,3987],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-winter-2018"],"yoast_head":"\nHealth experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say 'No, thanks' - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say 'No, thanks' - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ilana Marcus Medill Reports Liz Solheim waited to pick up a prescription at a Walgreens in Lakeview Tuesday evening, where the sign out front announced, \u201cCome and get your flu shot\u201d in red LED lettering. She had not gotten a flu shot this season, and doses of the flu vaccine were available for sale. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-29T22:06:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"481\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ilanamarcus2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ilanamarcus2018\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/\",\"name\":\"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say 'No, thanks' - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-29T22:06:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/7f7d984be86b009d7bc9006aa950fb53\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":481,\"caption\":\"Sign advertising flu shots outside of a Walgreens (Ilana Marcus\/MEDILL)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say ‘No, thanks’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/7f7d984be86b009d7bc9006aa950fb53\",\"name\":\"ilanamarcus2018\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba15b48cfe35ba1bf65fd3b303b64bcc8ddf1147a41fe19dd46505174d9106be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba15b48cfe35ba1bf65fd3b303b64bcc8ddf1147a41fe19dd46505174d9106be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ilanamarcus2018\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/ilanamarcus2018\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say 'No, thanks' - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say 'No, thanks' - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Ilana Marcus Medill Reports Liz Solheim waited to pick up a prescription at a Walgreens in Lakeview Tuesday evening, where the sign out front announced, \u201cCome and get your flu shot\u201d in red LED lettering. She had not gotten a flu shot this season, and doses of the flu vaccine were available for sale. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2018-01-29T22:06:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":481,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ilanamarcus2018","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ilanamarcus2018","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/","name":"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say 'No, thanks' - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-29T22:06:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/7f7d984be86b009d7bc9006aa950fb53"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/walgreens_flu_sign_pub.jpg","width":900,"height":481,"caption":"Sign advertising flu shots outside of a Walgreens (Ilana Marcus\/MEDILL)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/health-experts-still-advise-late-season-flu-shots-some-say-no-thanks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Health experts still advise late-season flu shots; some say ‘No, thanks’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/7f7d984be86b009d7bc9006aa950fb53","name":"ilanamarcus2018","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba15b48cfe35ba1bf65fd3b303b64bcc8ddf1147a41fe19dd46505174d9106be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba15b48cfe35ba1bf65fd3b303b64bcc8ddf1147a41fe19dd46505174d9106be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ilanamarcus2018"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/ilanamarcus2018\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}