This year’s early snowfall was a reminder that winter is on its way. Alaskans are moving fast to put on snow tires and dig out ice scrapers. Cobwebs and goblins are popping up in stores and neighborhoods. October is here. Time to winterize and immunize.
Now is a great time to get your annual flu shot – and your COVID-19 vaccine – if you haven’t done so already. The goal is to protect Alaskans as quickly as possible, to help drive down our COVID-19 cases and prevent the flu before it begins circulating widely in our communities.
Last year, Alaskans did a great job of getting their flu shots before the end of October as recommended. We also did great as a state at wearing masks, keeping social circles small, washing hands often and physical distancing from non-household members to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Alaska, like the rest of the country, experienced historically low levels of flu last year as a result and helped push down COVID-19 case rates.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are again high, and our health care system is stressed. If you want to help protect yourself, your family and Alaska’s health care system, please make an appointment to get a flu shot today – and get vaccinated against COVID-19 too.
The flu is responsible for hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States. Although it varies year to year, Alaska is significantly impacted by the flu. Anyone can get the flu, and serious problems can happen at any age. To learn more and to view Alaska flu data, please visit flu.alaska.gov.
The flu shot is safe, significantly reduces your chance of getting the flu and helps prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death associated with flu. There’s a chance you could still get the flu even if you’re protected by the flu vaccine, but if you do, you will likely have a milder illness than if you were unvaccinated. That means missing fewer days of work or school, plus it will help keep you in shape to fight off other diseases too, including COVID-19.
Flu shots can be administered at the same time as other vaccines. If you are considering getting vaccinated for COVID-19 or getting a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, check to see if your provider or clinic offers both for convenience and efficiency.
We recommend that everyone age six months and older get an annual flu shot. Essential workers with high levels of contact with people outside their house are at higher risk for flu as well as people who live or work in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Other people at higher risk of getting severe flu disease if they get the flu include:
• Pregnant women and children under five years of age
• People 50 years and older
• Adults and children who have chronic medical conditions like lung disease, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, neurologic disorders, and weakened immune systems, or those who are extremely obese
• Alaska Native people and other racial groups who are disproportionally affected by chronic medical conditions that can increase the risk for severe flu or COVID-19
As the weather cools and we return to indoor activities, it’s easier for us to transmit the flu and other viruses to each other. Let’s stay ahead of the game, stay healthy, and take the strain off Alaska’s health care system. This year, when you winterize, don’t forget to immunize.
Get your flu shot this year – and every year – before the end of October. The flu shot is widely available. Contact your health care provider, pharmacy or a state public health center near you to ask about flu vaccine availability. And consider getting a COVID-19 vaccination or booster if you are eligible. For more information visit: flu.alaska.gov and covidvax.alaska.gov.
Dr. Anne Zink, M.D.
Board-certified Emergency Physician
Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer
Party politics should take a back seat
Like many of you I’ve spent most of my life working hard, finding ways to jump over the roadblocks too many people face when we’re not blessed with wealth and privilege. My own experience was growing up in foster care after my father was killed by a robber late one night at his office. You’ve all had hardship in your own ways. I’ve learned from experience that you should have a right to succeed, a right to good schools, and a right to find your way to a good-paying job so you can enjoy life and thrive. In Alaska that, in part, we should never pit rural and urban Alaskans against each other, and that we protect our salmon and other fisheries.
Last year 8,800 more people moved from Alaska than moved here. People continue to leave because they see no future. Governor Dunleavy has harmed our schools, made local taxpayers pay for State school bond debt, and harmed our urban and rural communities. He’s tried to empty our $1 billion Power Cost Equalization Fund (PCE) twice, in 2019 and 2021. Thousands of people are out of work when they could be working on shovel-ready renewable energy and other projects across Alaska. He’s created a state of austerity and unaffordable oil company subsidies. I want a state with opportunity.
This week one news article indicated party values might come before the rights of all Alaskans in this Governor’s race. I think party politics should take a back seat. That’s why I worked hard to help elect and organize a Coalition in the State House in 2017 of Republicans, Democrats and Independents. The best ideas don’t come from one party. This Governor has put party politics in the driver’s seat.
I’ve voted to protect our rivers and fish, for Alaska’s responsible mining and oil development, but against the toxic Pebble Mine. We can’t afford a Governor who’s still pushing Pebble on behalf of Canadian mine executives.
I believe Outside factory trawlers that drag the ocean floor can’t be good for fish or crab habitat. They’re a part of the loss of Kings, Chums and other fish and crab around the state. We should let science and local knowledge guide better policies to reduce factory trawler bycatch and the dumping of tons of dead fish overboard. Commercial, subsistence and sport fishing should bind us together to protect what we have, for Alaskans who fish for income, food, culture or enjoyment.
We should be equal partners with an oil industry that produces good-paying jobs. But lobbyists and our Governor have made us junior partners.
I’ll work to end roughly $1 billion in unjustified oil tax subsidies we can’t afford – which Governor Dunleavy was the deciding vote for as a legislator, and which I voted against. Those subsidies come at the expense of schools, children, seniors and a stronger PFD than this Governor has ever produced. He’s handed oil companies the money we need to fund all these things.
I’ve voted to stand up for schools, children and seniors, and passed comprehensive protections for abused and neglected children. That work has resulted in awards, including from the Trump Administration.
I believe in personal freedom, in a real way, not as a slogan. And I believe in your rights to privacy and in equal rights for all. I’m proud I’m the only candidate in this race who believes women get to make their own health decisions, and that people deserve equal rights. Your personal business is not my business.
Unlike both of my main opponents, I would never allow my Attorney General to sue to roll back a woman’s right to choose. I’d fire them if they did. I’m the only candidate who can say that.
I want this and the next generation to have the opportunities my wife Kelly and I have had.
Kelly treats hospital patients with sometimes severe wounds. She also treats more COVID patients than she would if we had leadership willing to steer Alaskans towards this things that prevent the spread of a deadly, out-of-control COVID virus.
I began my career in Fairbanks working for Supreme Court Justice Jay Rabinowitz, and then in Anchorage as an Assistant Attorney General working long hours on the civil prosecution of Exxon after the catastrophic 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. As a legislator until 2018, I was proud to represent all Alaskans, rural and urban, not just those in one district.
I’m a Democrat who believes in representing everyone, regardless of party. I believe national parties don’t understand Alaska. But foremost, I’m an Alaskan who wants a brighter future for everyone in this state.
Les Gara, former Assistant Attorney General and Legislator
Anchorage, AK
