Flu Shots

We now have flu shots available for our patients, including the flu vaccine for children under 3 years of age. We are offering an outpatient flu vaccine clinic for anyone who has had at least 1 flu vaccine in the past year and no acute illness at the time of the visit.

Patients who are eligible for outpatient flu vaccines are:

• patients who have already received a flu vaccine in a previous year
• patients who do NOT have life threatening allergic reactions to eggs
• patients who do NOT wish to see the doctor for any other reason during their visit

Please call our office or submit an appointment request.

Appointments

At this appointment your child will be given the flu vaccine by a member of our medical assistant staff, as ordered by their physician.

Your child’s primary care physician will have reviewed his or her records to be sure they qualify for the flu vaccine.

You may schedule your child’s appointment through our portal, our online appointment request system, or by calling our office at 510-792-4373.

Payment

The “Flu vaccine only” visit does not require a copay. However, if any other problems are addressed at this visit, this visit will require a copay as required by your insurance policy.

 

For the 2018-19 flu season, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children be immunized with the inactivated influenza vaccine over the Flumist.

As many of you may know, FluMist was not recommended as a vaccination for infants and children last year because of its lack of effectiveness, discovered with use after the 2016 flu season. The manufacturer of FluMist, MedImmune, has changed to a new strain they think will be more effective. In February, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reviewed the MedImmune data on vaccine effectiveness and voted to reintroduce FluMist as an option for the 2018-’19 season. However, the data on whether or not it will be effective are not definitive.

The AAP Committee on Infectious Disease (COID), reviewed data on the effectiveness of the injectable flu vaccine compared with FluMist, and made the decision to recommend the injectable form of the vaccine because it has been more consistently effective against most strains of the flu virus. For this reason, our office will also be recommending the injectable form of the flu vaccine this year and will not be offering FluMist at this time.

For more information, read this article on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) site:
AAP influenza immunization recommendations revised for 2018-19 season