In the past, flu shots were not free for students, but that is different this year. Wichita State is offering free flu shots for the first time.

Flu season typically starts in October, but the program is starting now in order to help people gain immunity to the virus before it starts to spread.

Anyone with a WSU student ID can get their free vaccination starting today in Ahlberg Hall, Room 209. Faculty and staff have to pay $25. The first clinic is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 18 in the Heskett Center.

“Getting that shot helps prevent you from getting sick and prevents it from spreading. We’ll have lots of people who come in and say ‘I hate shots, but I don’t want my parents [or kids] to get sick,” said Heather Stafford, associate director of Student Health Services.

Those especially vulnerable to flu include children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with asthma, diabetes and cancer.

Babies younger than six months cannot get the vaccine. The only way to protect them is to make sure the people around them are immune. The flu killed at least 146 American children last season, but the flu kills far more elderly people, according to the Centers For Disease Control & Prevention.

The CDC states on its website that it’s impossible to nail down the exact number of flu-related deaths, but that it’s typically at least 4,000 deaths per season nationwide.

A flu vaccine is recommended for every healthy person six months and older. The only people recommended not to get the shot are those with life threatening allergies and people with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare paralytic condition.

Even with the flu shot, immunity isn’t guaranteed because there are multiple strains that are always mutating. As a result, the shot needs to be renewed every season.

The last flu season was worse than usual nationwide. Kansas saw an above average number of flu cases. New York state declared a public health emergency when its number of reported flu cases jumped to 15,000 from the previous year’s 4,400.