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Local doctors encourage people to get flu shot
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Certified medical assistant Crystal Hollyfield gives a flu shot to Nadine Millwood Friday afternoon at Longstreet Clinic in Gainesville. Flu vaccines can take up to six weeks to become fully effective. - photo by MICHELLE BOAEN JAMESON | The Times
Nadine Millwood remembers her miserable experience with the flu very well.That’s why she gets a flu shot every year.“If you get the flu shot, it makes it milder if you do get it,” Millwood said as braced for a shot in her arm. She said she didn’t even feel it.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Council for Immunizations Practices recommends that everyone 6 months and older get the flu vaccine every year.People older than 50 and children younger than 5 are especially encouraged to get the vaccine because they are more at risk for developing complications.Pregnant women, people with chronic medical conditions, health care workers and those living in nursing homes are also at higher risk.Dr. Philip Marler, doctor of internal medicine at The Longstreet Clinic in Gainesville, said he urges everyone to get the vaccine, particularly people older than 65 because they have the highest mortality rate with the virus.“Influenza is not very pleasant to have. If you’ve ever had the flu you know what I’m talking about,” Marler said.