The Memphis and Shelby County Health Department will offer free flu shots for adults at three polling places on Election Day, Nov. 4.

The flu shot clinics are part of a nationwide pilot program called “Vote & Vax,” designed to make flu shots more accessible to adults who might not otherwise be vaccinated. The Memphis and Shelby County Health Department teamed up with the Shelby County Election Commission and the Memphis Parks Commission to bring the program to Memphis.

Flu shots will be offered for free to adults covered under Medicare or TennCare at the following polling places:

Glenview Community Center, 1141 S. Barksdale St.; hours: 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Hickory Hill Community Center, 3910 Ridgeway Rd.; hours: 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Raleigh Community Center, 3678 Powers Rd.; hours: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Please bring your Medicare or TennCare card. Participants do not need to vote or even to be registered to vote to receive the flu shot. The shots will be offered in a room away from the voting machines. Signs in each community center will direct voters to the shot clinic.

Each year as many as 60 million people in the United States come down with the flu. More than 36,000 people die of the flu each year. The majority of those who die are aged 50 and older. The purpose of Vote & Vax is to better protect vulnerable Americans against influenza. It is a non-political, non-partisan public health campaign. It is not an effort to get out the vote – it’s an effort to “get out the shot!”

If this year’s Vote & Vax effort is successful, the Health Department may expand the effort to more polling places on the next Election Day.

For more information about Vote & Vax, call the Health Department’s Immunization Program at 901-544-7708, Monday – Friday, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.