For the second year in a row, Harvard University Health Services (UHS) is going into dining halls and other campus locations to offer free influenza vaccines to students, faculty and staff.

Vaccines will be offered during dinner hours on Nov. 8 in Mather House, Nov. 13 in Annenberg, Nov. 15 in Eliot and Nov. 20 from 11 a.m. to noon in Loker Commons. They are also being offered at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government.

UHS expanded its outreach program for the vaccines during the last school year following a flu outbreak in January of 1999, according to Harvard Infection Control Surveillance Officer and nurse practitioner Donna V. Campbell.

She said UHS officials noticed that the vaccine was effective in preventing the virus on campus.

"People really liked it and it worked well--we nipped it in the bud," Campbell said.

She said that although statistics always vary from year to year, she believes fewer respiratory illnesses were reported last year, in part because of the flu vaccination program.

"There clearly was a dip last year of respiratory illness from December to March," Campbell said.

In all, 3,200 Harvard students, staff, and employees were vaccinated in offsite clinics last season, and Campbell thinks at least as many will participate this year.