 A lot of sailors view the flu as a bad cold, but aside from the short-term misery and lost workdays that impact the Navy's mission, the flu can have more serious implications. Sure, most people who get the seasonal flu recover just fine, but the flu also hospitalizes 200,000 people in the U.S. each year. Up to 49,000 of those people never make it home. And it's primarily important to get the flu vaccinations for preventive medicine. The flu affects 30,000 people a year that gets hospitalized with it. So it's very important for us to preventive measure to get the flu vaccine. So to protect you, your family, and your shipmates, the Navy wants to remind you that an annual seasonal flu vaccine is the best way to lessen the chance that you will get the flu and spread it to others. Getting the shot now, before the flu season is in full force between October and May, gives the body a chance to build up protection from the virus. You can get the vaccine at any military treatment facility or pharmacy. From the Defense Media Activity, I'm Petty Officer Alexandra Snyder.