As the weather gets cooler, flu season begins. For the past couple of years, the Ashland University Health Center has offered free flu shots for students.

This year, the health center has received about 600 flu shots for students to protect their bodies against the flu.

“We started giving flu shots to improve people getting vaccinated against the flu. It’s just good service to help the overall health for the student and campus population,” Sarah Taylour, certified nurse practioner said.

The health center is located on the first floor of the student center near the safety services office and will have a sign by the door with ‘FREE FLU SHOTS’ on it.

The process of getting a flu shot takes minutes.

“I walked in and I said I needed to get my flu shot and then I filled out a paper, which took about maybe a minute,” junior Madison Kuhn said. “They [the nurse] called me right back, got my shot, and gave me a sticker and I was on my way.”

Not only does the shot take minutes to get, but some students express that they like how they don’t have to go off-campus.

“I believe that having the flu shot free here is very beneficial because if we didn’t then people would have to go out and pay with their own money” junior Zhane Scott said. “It’s very easy and accessible here on campus.”

In today’s society, there is a lot of opinions for vaccinations and against vaccinations.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the “flu vaccines protect against the 3 or 4 viruses that research suggests will be most common,” and “has been shown to significantly reduce a child’s risk of dying from influenza.”

“Some people have religious reasons for not wanting to get vaccinated, and I think some of the concern of autism is probably one of the biggest reasons why some people don’t get vaccinated as well,” Taylour said. “Take your flu shot.”

While many professionals may always agree with getting vaccinations, students that are in training for their careers also explain why getting vaccines, not just flu shots, are important.

“People don’t get them [vaccines] because they say it’ll cause autism, but honestly when they’re younger and they catch that virus, they’re immune system isn’t built up yet so they have a higher chance of getting an infection and possibly dying from the illness,” Kuhn said. “…in reality, it could have been prevented by a shot”.