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First 'shots' fired in war against influenza

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Stacy Fowler
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  Have you received your flu shot yet? If not, you need to.

The first day of October is not only the beginning of a new fiscal year, it is also the beginning of "flu season," that sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, can't-get-to-sleep season.

To fight the flu, the Air Force Theater Hospital at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, is immunizing all military and civilian personnel on base with a "two in one" shot for seasonal flu and H1N1, said Maj. Peter Trang, hospital pharmacy flight commander.

"These shots are all about flu prevention," said Major Trang, a native of Reading, Penn., deployed from Wilfred Hall, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. "The vaccine is a dead virus - it's completely safe. Your body can build up immunity with this, or run the risk of having contact with someone with the flu and get sick."

To fight the flu and discomfort that comes with it, sometimes all it takes is the prick of a little needle.