Yorktown Weapons Station Distributes Vaccination for Flu Season

YORKTOWN (NNS) -- Medical personnel from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) offered more than 3,000 vaccinations at Naval Weapons Station (WPNSTA) Yorktown and Cheatham Annex Sept. 13 as part of a field training exercise.

Per Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Navy Vaccination and Reporting Policy, Commander Naval Installation Command (CNIC) is testing installation-based pandemic influenza point of dispensing or mass vaccination plans.

"This exercise allows us to test, if a real pandemic broke out, how many people we can get inoculated in the shortest amount of time," said Lt. j.g. Christopher Harvie, Vaccination Strike Team 3 leader.
Department of Defense (DoD) policy requires immunization of all active and Reserve personnel against influenza according to service-specific guidelines. For the 2011-2012 influenza season, the services have requested 4,117,000 doses of vaccine.

"The vaccine causes an auto-immune response in your body that builds up anti-bodies against the flu," Harvie said. "This increases operational readiness and decreases downtime for our Sailors."

To meet the exercise requirements, CNIC will combine a field training exercise for select installations and a table-top exercise for other installations.

"All four of our vaccination strike teams fall under NMCP," Harvie said. "When we're finished, we'll have inoculated more than 40,000 military and civilian personnel at installations all across Hampton Roads."

At WPNSTA Yorktown and Cheatham Annex, personnel from the installation and its 38 tenant commands participated in the operation. These include Sailors and Marines from forward-deploying units like 2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team Company, Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 1 and Riverine Squadron 3.

"This may have been an exercise to the medical staff, but to WPNSTA Yorktown, it's essential to our mission readiness," said Capt. Lowell Crow, commanding officer, WPNSTA Yorktown and Cheatham Annex.

"We have to be ready 24/7 to provide ordnance to the fleet and operational support for our tenants. Getting our personnel properly vaccinated helps ensure that readiness, especially through the harsh flu season."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu viruses are constantly changing. Each flu season, different flu viruses can spread. Getting vaccinated against the flu every season protects against the influenza viruses that will cause the most illness this season. The CDC recommends the flu vaccine as the first and most important step in preventing the flu.

The pandemic exercise provides the Navy with both the opportunity to ensure its personnel, both military and civilian, are protected against the influenza virus as well as the chance to test "real world" response to a possible medical emergency.

For more news from Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, visit www.navy.mil/local/nwsyorktown/.