PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – As a rare, polio-like disease continues to spread across the U.S., the director of the Danville-Pittsylvania County Health Department is encouraging parents to take advantage of a free flu shot event next weekend.
The first 300 people to get a shot at trunk-or-treat at the Old Dominion Ag. Center in Chatham Oct. 27 will get the shot for free.
Anyone after that will have to pay for their flu shot.
The health department's director, Dr. Scott Spillmann, says doctors don't know what's causing the polio-like disease, and they don't think influenza is the cause, but getting a flu shot could help narrow down the cause.
"Here's an advantage to getting the flu vaccine. At least, the idea that it's influenza or is it something else. It reduces the probability that it's due to influenza," Spillmann said.
For more information about the polio-like disease, click here.