Iowa State’s Employee Flu Shot Clinic reopened Thursday after a several-day delay on a shipment of vaccines.

The clinic was set to run from Oct. 3 through Oct. 14, but as of Monday, the clinic had run out of flu shots and began turning away Iowa State employees. To make up for missed time, the flu shot clinic will continue through Tuesday.

ISU WellBeing partnered with Occupational Medicine to offer free flu shots to eligible Iowa State employees. Occupational medicine is an office within Ames Laboratories, which offers various medical services to Ames Lab and Iowa State employees.

The senior WorkLife and WellBeing coordinator at Iowa State, Stephanie Downs, said the temporary closure of the flu shot clinic was not due to any larger shortage of vaccines.

“We had a shipment that delayed a few more days than we anticipated, gave over 1,500 shots in the first week, and just ran out before the second shipment arrived,” Downs said in an email response to the Iowa State Daily.

Deanna Sargent, communications and marketing manager for student health and wellness, said that because the clinic was held in partnership with Occupational Medicine, it has no affiliation with Thielen Student Health Center (TSHC).

“TSHC has not experienced any vaccine shortages, including influenza, and our flu shot clinics both at the clinic and other locations on campus are being held as scheduled,” Sargent said in an email response to the Iowa State Daily.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone six months and older get yearly updates on their flu vaccination. While there are multiple variants of flu viruses, the seasonal flu vaccine offers protection against the top three or four variants anticipated to cause illness in the coming year.

The ISU Wellbeing flu vaccine clinic website also recommended people get their flu shots as soon as vaccines are released, ideally by October. This helps to ensure that more people have the flu antibodies developed before the beginning of flu season.