I empathize with people who don’t want to get the vaccine. It’s a pain, it really is. You got to take time out of your schedule and get it done for some non-intuitive benefit.

However, imagine you get the flu. That’s 4-5 days of low productivity and pain. This is equivalent to a loss of 72-90 waking hours. If you’d like to assume you work at 50 percent productivity, then you lost about 36-45 hours of your life.

Let’s say you get the flu once every 4 years. So, you lose about 9-12.5 hours per year to the flu. A trip to a pharmacy and getting your vaccine is about an hour at the absolute worst case.

My reason for getting the flu shot is the math. For this reason, I have organized a “Flu Shot Booth” with the Employee Health & Wellness Clinic so that we can get a flu shot easily.

Employees, please stop by the South Texas Research Facility (STRF) Lobby on Tuesday, November 8 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. 2:30 PM to 4 PM to get your flu shot. Please bring your insurance card and ID badge. If you know in advance that you want to get a flu shot, please email anthonyc@uthscsa.edu. Note: Unfortunately due to student paperwork, the booth is only for staff and employees. Students feel free to go to the Student Health Clinic on Main Campus (info below).

If you cannot make it, feel free to visit or call below.

Staff—The Employee Health & Wellness Clinic is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please bring your insurance card and ID badge. For more information or to make an appointment, call the Employee Health & Wellness Clinic at 210-567-2788. It is located at The School of Nursing in Room 1.445.

Students–The Student Health & Wellness Center is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please bring your insurance card and ID badge. For more information or to make an appointment, call the Student Health & Wellness Center at 210-567-9355. It is located  in the School of Nursing Building, Rm 1.422.

Brian Iskra is an M.D./Ph.D. student in the Cancer Biology track. To read an article about him, click here.