SENIOR CENTER OFFERING FREE FLU SHOTS THIS WEEK.

Byline: Daily News

Free flu shots for seniors, the disabled and chronically ill patients will be offered Thursday at a clinic at the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center.

The immunizations will be administered from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in the center's activities rooms 1 and 2, 22900 Market St.

The clinic is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. It is open to those 60 and older, the disabled and those with heart and lung disease. Appointments are not necessary.

Early indications suggest the flu season will arrive sooner and hit harder this winter than in normal years. On the bright side, though, doctors will be able to battle influenza with a newly approved prescription drug.

Public health officials are predicting flu to strike four weeks earlier than usual because of a strain that infected people on Alaskan cruise ships the past two summers.

Though no cases have been confirmed, it's not too soon for people to get their vaccines, health officials say.

Medicare covers flu shots for its elderly and disabled beneficiaries, the people who need them the most.

Flu is blamed for 20,000 deaths a year in the United States, with as many as 50 million contracting the virus. Its most common symptoms are sudden high fever, headache and upper respiratory problems.

It's important to recognize flu symptoms early because the new drug, Relenza, can diminish the effects of both A and B types of influenza if treatment begins within the first two days of symptoms. The drug is inhaled through the mouth.

The flu strains that this year's vaccination inoculates against are A-Beijing, A-Sydney and B-Yamanashi. Those are the viruses used in the vaccines.

People with confirmed allergies to eggs should not receive flu shots because eggs are used in manufacturing the vaccine.