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When flu season comes around, James Shirley rolls up his sleeve and goes directly to Pike Internal Medicine. And, odds are that he is expected.

Shirley has been taking the flu shot since he enrolled in college in 2003.

And, during all those years, he has had the flu only one time and it was not as bad as it could have been, Shirley said. “But it was bad enough for me to know that I didn’t want it again.”

Shirley is willing to have his photo “shot” for the newspaper each year as encouragement to others to “get their flu shots.”

“Some people say they are afraid to get the flu shot because they might be allergic to it and have a reaction,” Shirley said. “And, some people might have a reaction, but there’s no might about it. Many people are going to the flu.”

When COVID added yet another seasonal sickness, Shirley said he didn’t hesitate to get “the shot.”

“I didn’t want to get COVID and I didn’t want to give it to anybody if I did get it,” Shirley said. “I’m still wearing a mask so, if I should happen to get the flu or COVID,  it would keep me from giving it to someone else. I don’t want to make anybody sick.”

Shirley said the flu season goes from October until April and that’s a lot of opportune time to get the flu.

“I would rather take the shot than take a chance on getting the flu,” he said. “If there’s a shot that will help me not be sick, I will take it. I  want to stay well and a shot in the arm is the best way I know how.”

The CDC estimates between October 2023 and April 2024 as many as 75 million people in the United States got the flu resulting in up to 900,000 hospitalizations and between 17,000 and 100,000 deaths.