Flu vaccines in casinos

Betting On Health

High rollers don’t do much rolling if they have the flu.

So if you’re a casino owner, you don’t want your best customers to get sick. They might stay home and discover gambling on the Internet.

That’s why many casino owners are now making flu shots available in their casinos. Some are even giving coupons or slot machine tokens as an added incentive.

Last month, visiting nurses vaccinated gamblers and casino employees at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut where one health care worker described casinos as something of an “incubator” for viruses, with so many people constantly in such close contact.

Casino owners have got to love that characterization: Come on down to the Casino! It’s a virus incubator!

In a year when we’ve seen more television advertising for the flu vaccine than ever before, you have to wonder if the casino inoculation is just a glimpse of things to come. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before shopping malls, football stadiums, neighborhood taverns, the DMV, and other virus “incubators” start setting up flu shot stations.

For those of us who choose to opt out of the flu shot (choosing instead to strengthen our immune systems with exercise, balanced nutrition, and extra supplements) it may soon be difficult to avoid accidental vaccination, what with nurses brandishing syringes at every turn.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
Sources:
“Casinos Vaccinate Customers Against Flu, Pneumonia” Associated Press, 10/30/03, stamfordadvocate.com