NNPH Flu Vaccine clinic
MGN & NNPH

Northern Nevada Public Health is hosting free flu shot clinic in Reno this Friday. 

It comes as NNPH reports three additional flu-related deaths this season, all 65 years of age and older. 

Flu shots will be available at the NNPH main clinic on 1001 E. 9th St., Building B, from 1-4 p.m.

The average time to get a flu shot at NNPH is about 5-15 minutes depending on how many people are waiting.

Insurance and appointments are not required.

NNPH says flu activity remains high. 

NNPH also has a dashboard that keeps track of respiratory illnesses going around the community, which you can check out by clicking the link here.

Meanwhile, the CDC says flu activity remains elevated across the country. RSV activity is elevated in many areas of the country with emergency department visits and hospitalizations increasing among children 0-4 years old. COVID-19 activity is low but increasing nationally.

The CDC estimates that there have been at least 15 million illnesses, 180,000 hospitalizations, and 7,400 deaths from flu so far this season.

One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that is the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.

The last flu season saw the highest overall flu hospitalization rate since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. And child flu deaths reached 289, the worst recorded for any U.S. flu season this century — including that H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010.

More than 40 states report high flu activity. 

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)