USF President and Public Health Dean among the first to get free flu shots

Oct. 18, 2012 —  Shortly after 8 a.m. this morning the line to receive free influenza vaccines from the yearly flu shot drive hosted by the  University of South Florida College of Public Health was already wrapped around the lobby of the college, and moving smoothly.   

 USF President Judy Genshaft and Public Health Dean Donna Petersen, ScD, were among the first takers.

This is the 16th year of the college’s flu shot drive for adults 18 and older.  The longstanding community service is a collaboration of the college,  USF Health and the Hillsborough County Health Department, which provided 1,500 doses of vaccines that help protect against this year’s flu strains. 

USF President Judy Genshaft and Public Health Dean Donna Petersen (below) get their flu shots from Dr. Dianne Morrison-Beedy, dean of the College of Nursing.

The shots are typically administered on a first-come, first-served basis by USF nursing and medical students under close faculty supervision.  

“I just want a student who has given at least one shot,”  President Genshaft quipped.   

Not to worry.   President Genshaft’s and Dr. Peterson’s shots were administered by a super-qualified nurse — Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, dean of the USF College of Nursing.

Last year’s flu shot won’t help you this year.  Two new strains of influenza are circulating, and the updated vaccine appears to work well against them, government officials have said.

Boo Kwa, PhD, vice president of USF Health International Programs, rolls up his sleeve.

 Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications, and Natalie Preston-Washington, College of Public Health