The flu is one life-threatening disease that has had several deadly outbreaks in California these past years. Many people don’t go to the doctor when they experience symptoms of the flu. This is more common in low-income communities because low-income communities often don’t have access to important resources. We chose to talk about the flu because the flu is a virus that can mutate to fight against flu vaccines (making this virus interesting to research) and more lives could be saved if they are vaccinated. Low-income communities are everywhere where we live and since many people can’t afford the flu shots, low-income communities are usually sick, affecting everyone in that community. Many companies have identified this problem and have made flu shots free in some places. However, the general public is unaware which leads us to our essential question: How can we increase the vaccination rate for the flu among low-income communities in California? One way we thought of doing this was spreading awareness about the flu and the vaccines available to combat the evolving influenza virus strains each year. People need to know more about the flu in case it happens to mutate into something more deadlier.
The flu is a well known disease, but not many people actually know about the actual virus. The actual disease name is the influenza virus. The influenza virus is a “contagious respiratory illness” that infects the body through the nose, throat, and lungs. Those that do have the flu have a chance to die which is more true for those with weakened immune systems. The flu disease evolves every year making it potentially more deadlier than last year. Last year’s flu season killed 185 children, 80% of whom were not vaccinated, according to the CDC. In the last flu season, so many people got the flu and became ill that hospitals overflowed with patients. They ended up running out of medicine. Some experts said the nationwide death toll in the 2017-2018 season — 79,400 — was second only to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic where 50 million people died because of the flu. Some people don’t have access to the flu vaccine or don’t want to be vaccinated which can dramatically increase the chance of contracting a deadly strain of the flu.
Symptoms of the flu include:
The flu season starts in October/November and can end as late as May. The flu season peaks between December and February as you can see from this graph.
Influenza spreads mainly by little droplets made when the infected coughs, sneezes, or talks to another susceptible person. These droplets land in the mouths/noses of the susceptible person and can be inhaled into the lungs.
Many pharmacies offer free flu shots with health insurance. Some include places include:
