With flu season back in full swing, USC is holding flu clinics around campus. The clinics are meant to help students avoid getting sick by giving free flu shots to any USC student regardless of insurance.
Kelli Maddox, a care team manager for these events, leads the clinics.
"[Flu shots are] the number one thing the CDC recommends for prevention of flu," Maddox said. "Flu can be very deadly ... even with healthy kids."
Experts say by getting a flu shot, students are not only protecting themselves but also their classmates and roommates. The shot will not only help prevent them from getting the flu, but also protect others who are allergic to the contents of the shots and cannot get one through herd immunization.
"Coming from a family of educators, I believe that it's not only important for your personal health, but to ensure the safety of others," first-year studio art student Benjamin Doyle said. "Other people don't need to have to deal with that as well, and shouldn't have to deal with illness because you have chosen not to."
For first-year political science student Alex Poulios, getting the flu shot is a regular occurrence, but for others such as first-year finance student Greg Oross, this is a first time experience.
"In college it's pretty easy to contract many sicknesses and diseases," Poulios said. "Me and Greg ... we never want to be bed ridden from the flu one day. It's just not a good thing, you know?"
The student health center strongly encourages anyone who is not already sick to come and get a flu shot, as the CDC is predicting this to be a very bad flu season. There will be flu clinic at different locations on campus until Oct. 25. Maddox says students should consider the effects of the flu on their academics.
"Can you as a student afford to be out of class for five days to two weeks? I think the answer is no," Maddox said. "Even if you get the flu after having gotten the flu shot your symptoms should be less severe than if you had not gotten the flu shot."