Flu vaccines to be offered at polling places in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger counties

The latest campaign in Southeast Missouri focuses on health, specifically keeping the flu at bay.

The 2007-08 flu season caused 30,978 Missourians to suffered from the illness — almost twice the number who got sick a year earlier.

Health officials in Cape Girardeau, Scott and Bollinger counties are already prepared to help people stay healthy this year, offering influenza vaccination clinics. Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties are taking it one step further, right to the polling places on Nov. 4.

"We have four registered nurses here and four precincts in Bollinger County," said Sandy Chaney R.N., of Bollinger County Health Department. "We'll try to hit those precincts and set up for people. This is something new ... just to get people aware of what they can do."

Cape Girardeau County will also join the program, called Vote & Vax, a nationwide program to make getting the vaccine more convenient.

Nurse practitioner Kay Griffin said Scott County is not planning on participating, because the vaccine arrived early and "we don't have enough staff to go to all the places," with the county's five nurses.