Drugstores to start giving flu shots Tuesday

MPLS VAMC started their employee/patient campaign on 8/31/09. (Yes I got my flu shot :>>)

We started out employee flu vaccines last week and started giving them to patients on 8/31.
Might as well get them started, influenza is already out there rearing its ugly head.

Our local fire departments started giving thiers out on Sept 1 for $25.00 and also having "drive thru" service so clients dont even need to leave thier vehicle. They were lined up!!! My street had so much traffic on day one I couldnt believe it.

I cringe every time I hear people talk about drive through clinics. It is dangerous.

I am not sure I care about it either way, but what are your concerns?

Just that when they give the shots they are not having the patients wait around for 15 min to make sure they dont have an allergic reaction.

My sister is given a syringe with her birth control medicine. The doctor's office where she is a patient doesn't give shots, probably because there are no real nurses there. Just a bunch of medical assistants, they're just like nurses. lol

Any one else think it is scary handing a patient a needle and expecting them to give their own injections.

Nope, not at all. Diabetics inject themselves everyday. People with migraines inject themselves with Imitrex. People getting a sex change inject their own hormones. People with allergic reactions use epi-pens. I am a nurse, and can be a patient; should I not be able to inject my own meds? Should all diabetics go to the hospital every time they need insulin? Its point aim shoot. A monkey could give an injection; especially a depo shot that is pre-measured and goes in the leg.

I live in Florida so our seasonal peak flu time is a bit different due to climate, but our employee health office recommends that we wait a bit longer for our shots. She said that it take a bit of time (can't remember if it was a a couple of days or a couple of weeks) for the vaccine to begin taking affect and that it's peak time of defense is 3 months following. The local pharmacies began offering flu shots this week but she suggested that we all wait until the hospital offers vaccines to us in October/November since peak flu time here is January-February. Makes sense to me, I am going to wait. I got my first flu vaccine every last year at work and didn't have any adverse reactions... I also didn't get the flu, but I have never had it either. I just finally gave in to the idea of needing a bit of extra protection due to the working environment... I'm having a heck of a time decided if I'm going to get the H1N1 vaccine when available. Our unit will be one of the first ones it is available to in the hospital and I am clueless.