CHECKUP : FREE FLU VACCINATIONS AVAILABLE FOR SENIORS IN PASADENA.

The Pasadena Senior Center and the Pasadena Health Department will administer free flu shots to people 60 and older from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the First Baptist Church, 75 N. Marengo. Entry is through double orange doors at the rear of the church.

Information: [phone].

Medical experts recommend annual flu shots for seniors and people with chronic medical conditions. People with an allergy to eggs and anyone who has ever been paralyzed with Guillain Barre syndrome should not receive a flu shot. Pregnant women should check with their doctors about special risks. Anyone with a fever should delay vaccination until the fever and other symptoms of cold or flu are gone.

Throughout October, Medicine Shoppe Pharmacies also will offer low-cost flu shots - and a free gift pack of health-related product samples for older people. Shots cost $10, but are free to Medicare Part B patients who have not assigned their benefits to an HMO. Times and dates vary at individual pharmacies.

Cold conqueror: An experimental nasal spray has been found to protect some people from coming down with a cold and to reduce the severity of symptoms in those who get sick. In a series of studies, just 44 percent of patients treated with the spray, called BIRR 4, came down with cold symptoms, compared to 67 percent of those who took placebo. In those who became sick, treatment with the spray reduced the severity of cough, stuffiness, headache, runny nose, sneezing, malaise and sore throat by 45 percent, compared with placebo.