At the first campus-wide flu vaccination clinic of the year, clinical staff from MIT Medical administered more than 3,000 flu shots in six hours — a new one-day record for MIT. “We all thought last year’s record of 2,971 shots in one day would stand for a while — especially since the weather was so rainy on the day of this year’s first clinic,” says Debbie Friscino, director of operations at MIT Medical. “But we broke the old record by about 300 vaccinations.”
Despite the large volume of patients at the Sept. 28 clinic in the Student Center, wait times were minimal. According to Friscino, time checks confirm it never took longer than 14 minutes for people to fill out paperwork and receive their shots. “I was so impressed by the system that guided people to each place,” says Frances Chen, an MIT senior. “There were so many people when I was there, but I never waited in line longer than two minutes.”
An additional clinic is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Student Center (W20). It’s open to all members of the MIT community, ages 10 and up. Individuals who can’t make it to a clinic can call the MIT Medical Flu Line at 617-253-4865 to schedule a vaccination appointment.
The 2012-2013 flu vaccine is a single shot that protects against three different flu viruses: an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus, and the H1N1 virus. Since active flu strains are different each year, even if you got a flu vaccination last year, you need to get this year’s vaccine to be protected. For more information about how to protect yourself from influenza, visit MIT Flu Central.
A hologram of a butterfly, displayed on both a conventional, monochromatic holographic-video monitor (left) and the MIT researchers' new color monitor.
Images: Daniel Smalley
Cheap, color, holographic video
A practical new approach to holographic video could also enable 2-D displays with higher resolution and lower power consumption.
