Drive-thru flu shots? Vaccine vouchers for outside the office?
How getting the flu shot in Illinois will be different this year
Getting the flu shot this year is going to look different in Illinois as patients and medical facilities adapt to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
Some Chicago-area doctors and pharmacies are offering drive-thru flu shots for kids and adults to help with social distancing. And some companies that normally offer vaccines in the office are giving vouchers to employees working from home that they can redeem at pharmacies.
Meanwhile, children as young as 3 years old can now receive flu shots from pharmacists, a controversial change made by the federal government last month to help as many as possible get vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics recommends all children receive their flu shots byHalloween.
The changes come as experts stress the importance of getting the flu shot this year, both to keep people healthy during the pandemic and to preserve health care resources in caseCOVID-19 surges again during the winter.
“It really is important this year, this year more than any other year, to make sure we all get our flu vaccines,” said Dr. Allison Bartlett, an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at University of ChicagoMedicine. “It’s also going to be a little challenging aswenavigate howand wherewe can get our flu vaccines.”
Inyearspast, manyworking adults received flu shots at their offices, and some companies still plan to offer them.
But traditional flu shot clinics are no longer practical for all workplaces because of social distancing requirements and because many employees are working from home. Instead, some companies are offering vaccines toemployees in their parking lots, and others are giving employees vouchers, said Alan Kohll, founder and president of Nebraska-based TotalWellness, a national corporate wellness company.
Some companies provided vouchers before the pandemic, but many more
“I don’t go inside anywhere, so this, outside, is really great.” — Brad Soren, 61, of Highland Park, who got the shot from his SUV
are doing so nowbecause so many workers have traded their cubicles for kitchen counters, Kohll said.
“They want to keep their employees healthy,” Kohll said of the companies offering vouchers. “Just like when you’re on-site you want to keep your employees healthy and productive, they’re not going to differentiate just because they’re at home.”
Drive-thru vaccinations are attractingmany patients in the Chicago area, including those who are wary of walking into doctors offices and pharmacies because of COVID-19.
On Thursday, a steady stream of cars pulled into the parking lot of the Highland Park Jewel-Osco for drive-thru and walk-up shots. Pharmacy manager Valentina Danilovski and other workers took turns handing forms to patients in their cars before pulling grocery store carts full of vaccination supplies up to their vehicles.
“I don’t go inside anywhere, so this, outside, is really great,” said Brad Soren, 61, of Highland Park, who got the shot from his
SUV.
University of Chicago Medicine has been holding drive-thru flu shot clinics once a week on its Hyde Park campus for current patients who are ages 9 and older, Bartlett said. Advocate Aurora Health is offering more than a dozen drive-thru clinics in the Chicago area as well as three for children in Wilmette, Park Ridge and the South Side of Chicago.
Some pediatric practices are offering drive-thru clinics, rather than the mass, walk-in immunization clinics they often conducted in their offices onweekends in years past.
PediaTrust, which has 20
pediatric offices throughout the north, northwest and west suburbs, has vaccinated more than 2,600 children in drive-thru clinics.
“Babies can get the vaccines while staying in their car seats,” said Dr. Susan Sirota, a pediatrician at PediaTrust’s Vernon Hills and Highland Park locations. Children who might need extra attention, including those who have a fear of shots, can get out of their cars with a parent to get the vaccine on a chair outside, she said.
Parent Colleen Torf recently took her 12- and 9-year-old sons to a drivethru vaccine clinic at Kids First Pediatric Partners in
Skokie. She said her kids were calm throughout the experience and enjoyed not having to wait in the pediatrician’s office for a shot.
“I was at a stoplight longer than it took to get the flu shot,” Torf said.
It was so easy that she hopes her pediatrician continues to offer drive-thru shots in the future, even if COVID-19 is no longer a concern.
But not all pediatric practices are offering drive-thru clinics. Lurie Children’s Hospital has discussed doing drive-thrus with its affiliate practices, but not all have enough doses of the vaccine or workers to do drive-thru clinics, said Dr. Ravi Jhaveri, associate head of Lurie’s division of pediatric infectious diseases. PediaTrust has had to reschedule a few drive-thru events because it didn’t have enough supply due to shipping delays.
Lurie is trying other tactics to get the vaccine to as many kids as possible, such as offering the nasal spray flu vaccine, which is “easier to give and quicker,” Jhaveri said. Also, Lurie is, for the first time, giving the vaccine to children who visit the emergency department.
Many pediatric practices that aren’t offering drivethru clinics are requiring parents to make appointments for their kids to get the flu shot, to ensure not too many people fill their offices at the same time.
It can be challenging, however, for large practices to schedule appointments for thousands of patients at once.
That’s led to longerwaits for the shot at some pediatric offices.
“Those logistical challenges are a real issue,” Jhaveri said. “Even if it takes a little longer, I would encourage people not to give up. This is important for protecting family, neighbors, friends.”
Before this year, Illinois pharmacists could only give vaccines to kids 10 and older. But the federal government changed that, superseding state law, to allow pharmacists to give vaccines to childrenas youngas 3 in hopes of improving access to immunizations amid the pandemic.
Some Illinois pharmacies, such as Jewel-Osco, have started vaccinating children as young as 3, while others are sticking to aminimum age of 10.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, which represents pediatricians, opposed the change to the age requirement. The group called it “misguided,” saying children should get vaccines from pediatricians who know their medical histories and can provide checkups at the same time.
Some pharmacies, however, say the change will make it easier for families to get flu shots together — something that could be especially helpful this year given that many kids are learning remotelyandmany parents are working from home.
On Thursday, Ira and Cara Schlussel brought their 22-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son to the Highland Park Jewel-Osco for drive-thru flu shots. One-by-one, each member of the family rolled down a window or opened an SUV door, to allow Danilovski to give the shots.
“It was quick, efficient, and we didn’t have to go inside,” said Ira Schlussel. “With the pandemic, it’s safer to be outside.”