Flu season is quickly approaching for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. While many chain drugstores typically offer flu shots during the fall, this year the flu shots are out early.
- CVS is offering flu shots a few weeks earlier than usual — they told the Associated Press that normally the flu shot campaign starts three to four weeks later.
- Walgreens started giving flu shots on October 1st last year — but is making flu shots available as of September 1st this year.
- Some Rite Aid stores are already giving flu vaccines.
Drugstore chains are expecting higher demand for the seasonal flu vaccine this year — and that’s one good reason to start the vaccinations early. A survey of Walgreens customers found that fifty percent of respondents planned to get a seasonal flu shot (that’s up seven percent from last year).
If you have a CVS, a Walgreens, or a Rite Aid in your area, you will have several opportunities to get a seasonal flu shot. Walgreens and CVS each have nearly seven thousand stores around the country; Rite Aid has nearly five thousand.
For a schedule of flu vaccine events in your area, check the drugstore’s website:
A separate swine flu vaccine may be ready by mid-October.
Worried about being able to afford a flu shot? The drugstores have you covered. CVS will be giving out vouchers for one hundred thousand free seasonal flu shots for the unemployed — an estimated cost of three million dollars in vaccines. Walgreens will be handing out a million dollars worth of vouchers for free seasonal flu shots for people without insurance.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the seasonal flu vaccine for children, the elderly, people with weak immune systems, pregnant woman, and people at high risk for contracting the flu. It is not possible to get the flu from a flu shot, as the virus particles used in making the vaccine are already dead.
Do you get an annual flu shot? Are you planning to get one this year?