The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department will provide 500 free flu shots to all community members age 3 or older from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15 at the Goleta Valley Community Center, 5679 Hollister Ave.
Each year, the Public Health Department exercises its mass vaccination plan in a different Santa Barbara community. These activities serve to familiarize residents with the mass vaccination clinic operation and to improve the county’s mass vaccination plan.
The Dec. 15 flu clinic provides an opportunity for residents to get a free flu shot to protect their health, and to help their community prepare for an emergency. This clinic is a joint effort between the Public Health Department and volunteers from the Medical Reserve Corps of Santa Barbara County.
Flu shots will be offered for those age 3 or older. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now recommending flu vaccinations for all children up to age 18.
The event is funded through the CDC’s Prevention Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program.
“The City of Goleta is pleased to collaborate with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department in the flu vaccination clinic on Dec. 15,” Mayor Eric Onnen said. “This is an excellent opportunity for our community to practice the operation that will be expedited in the event of a pandemic or other disaster. I will be getting a flu shot that day, and I encourage all city residents and others in the Goleta Valley to take advantage of this easy and free service, which will promote health in our community and exercise plans for emergency response.”
— Susan Klein-Rothschild is a public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.