Now more than ever, health officials are encouraging everyone to get a flu shot for the upcoming flu season as it will overlap with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This year, McKinley Health Center and Carle Foundation Hospital are providing several locations across campus and Champaign-Urbana for members of the community to get their flu shots.

Carle is offering vaccines at several locations in which some offer drive-through flu shot services.

The drive-throughs will be available at Carle Outpatient Services at the Fields as well as Carle Urbana on Windsor. Both of these locations will be open from Sept. 26 through Oct. 18.

There will also be a walk-in flu shot clinic at Marketplace Mall every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from Sept. 29 through Oct. 22.

Several other drive-through and walk-in locations are also available in Danville, Mattoon, Milford, Monticello and Tuscola.

Flu shots provided by McKinley are available for all students who have paid their Health Service Fee, which is a part of all students’ tuition and cannot be waived.

A Massmail sent to students, staff and faculty on Monday listed all the locations available for flu shots through McKinley:

Now through Nov. 20: Campus Recreation Center East

Sept. 28 through Sept. 30: Activities & Recreation Center

Oct. 5 through Oct. 8: Grainger Engineering Library

Oct. 12 through Oct. 15: Business Instructional Facility

Oct. 20 through Oct. 21: Veterinary Medicine

Oct. 22 through Oct. 23: Student Dining and Residential Programs Building

Hours for each location differ by day and location, but range anywhere from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“This is an extremely important year to prioritize getting your flu vaccination to help ensure we are each doing what we can to support our local healthcare system, so they can allocate their resources to fighting COVID-19,”  Chancellor Robert Jones said in the Monday MassMail.

During the flu season, health officials are also stressing the importance of recognizing symptoms and the differences and similarities between coronavirus, flu and allergies.

According to Carle, coronavirus symptoms include fever, dry cough, shortness of breath; flu symptoms include fever, cough, muscle aches, fatigue, weakness, chills and sweats; and allergy symptoms include sneezing, itchy nose, eyes or roof of mouth, runny or stuffy nose and watery, red or swollen eyes.

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