Almost every University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athlete received a flu shot back in the fall.
But the inoculations did not prevent four men’s basketball players from contracting the flu and requiring a 48-hour quarantine this week.
“It’s not unexpected or all that uncommon, because vaccines are not perfect,” said Sarah Stuart Sloan, an epidemiologist with the Hamilton County Health Department. “Usually, those who were vaccinated will have a milder case of illness.”
The illnesses of Jeremy Saffore, Keegan Bell, Omar Wattad and Jeff Smith contributed to UTC having to postpone a Thursday night game at Western Carolina until tonight.
“It’s not out of bounds to expect something like this to have happened,” Sloan said. “We want these games to happen. We want these student-athletes doing their thing.”