Flu Shots at SLU 2025
#FightFlu at Saint Louis University
Seasonal flu is a serious, highly contagious respiratory illness and its symptoms overlap with COVID-19. On college campuses, influenza viruses are known to circulate rapidly every year, usually between October and May.
Flu Shots are Especially Important This Semester
We are entering a flu season that is likely to be much more severe than we have seen in recent years. The best protection against influenza is the flu vaccine. And we strongly recommend that everyone who is medically able should obtain a flu vaccine this semester.
Many SLU students and employees are already required to get an annual flu vaccine as part of a clinical or educational program requirement.
Getting a flu shot will dramatically reduce your chances of being knocked down by influenza for several days.
It also reduces your risk of exhibiting flu-like symptoms that can be confused for COVID-19, RSV or other viral illnesses. Testing is the only way to determine whether you have COVID or the flu.
It is possible to be co-infected with both flu and COVID-19 at the same time, increasing the risk of having a severe illness that could prevent you from being able to attend class or work for an extended period of time.
While the flu vaccine does not protect against COVID-19, maximizing influenza vaccinations among our students and employees will reduce the spread of flu on campus and the burden it places on our health care professionals in clinics and local hospitals.
We will be providing a trivalent (three-component) flu vaccine. We will also offer a preservative-free flu vaccine for pregnant individuals, a high-dose vaccine for community members who are age 65 and over, and an egg-free vaccine for people with egg allergies.
Saint Louis University will be offering on-campus flu shots for all students, staff and faculty at multiple times and locations this semester.
Please complete the consent and health insurance form in advance to help reduce your clinic wait time. Paper copies are available at the information desks in Busch Student Center, Simon Recreation Center and at the main circulation desk in Pius XII Memorial Library.
Consent and health insurance forms will be available for walk-in appointments. You will need to refer to your health insurance card to complete the form. No health insurance? Your flu shot is on us.
No. Your health insurance plan will reimburse the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater St. Louis (VNA) for the costs of the influenza vaccine and administration. The VNA is a non-profit agency that has been partnering with SLU in recent years to help administer flu shots on our campuses, along with the extraordinary faculty and students from our Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing.
If you do not have health insurance, or your health plan will not cover the cost of a flu shot provided at one the University’s flu clinics, the flu shot will be provided at no cost to you — no matter whether you are a SLU student, a SLU employee, or a Sodexo employee working at SLU.
Yes, if they can provide proof of health insurance. Please make sure that they register
for an appointment and bring their health insurance card with them, to complete the
required consent and health insurance form.
SLU will not vaccinate family members who are unable to provide their current proof
of insurance at the time of their appointment.
Yes, you can receive the flu vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine, at or near the same time, at local community clinics and pharmacies.
If you have concerns about getting both vaccines at the same time, you should speak to a health care provider.
We will not be hosting COVID-19 vaccine clinics at this time.
Our flu shot clinics would not occur without the tremendous involvement of our School of Nursing faculty and students. Many thanks to them for their continued work to promote the public health of the SLU community.
If you have questions about getting your flu shot, you can email us at fightflu@slu.edu. The website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has up-to-date information on the flu vaccine.