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NCDHHS Secretary to get flu and COVID-19 booster shots

NCCDHHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley plans on getting both his annual flu shot and an updated COVID-19 booster shot on Thursday. Photo courtesy NCDHHS

NCCDHHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley plans on getting both his annual flu shot and an updated COVID-19 booster shot on Thursday. Photo courtesy NCDHHS

The head of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services has announced his own plans to get both an annual flu shot and an updated COVID-19 booster on Thursday. Secretary Kody Kinsley says he hopes doing so publicly will inspire others to stay up-to-date on their vaccinations.

Kinsley will be getting his shots at a pharmacy in Durham. 

According to an NCDHHS news release, the state is seeing increased influenza levels this year.  There have already been five flu deaths in adults reported this season, along with the first pediatric flu death in almost three years.  

This comes on the brink of winter’s colder months, when people spend more time indoors with friends and family, increasing the potential for infection.

Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone over the age of six months. Updated COVID-19 booster shots are available to people five and older.

North Carolina is hoping to better keep track of COVID-19 this season as it unveils new Respiratory Virus Surveillance dashboards, which are being updated with design enhancements to make for an improved user experience.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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