We are all in an unfamiliar world, uncertain and anxious about the coming winter flu season. It is because of this uncertainty and anxiety that we must band together to hold onto what we can control, and what we do understand. That includes how we approach the familiar foe called influenza.  

This upcoming flu season is the most important year in over a century to receive a flu shot and by extension protect your family, your friends, your community, and those who cannot protect themselves.

We encounter influenza viruses every winter, and in fact all of the pandemics of the past century were influenza viruses (Spanish Flu, Asian Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Swine Flu). Through decades of science we have developed effective tools to protect ourselves from these influenza viruses now only to be caught off guard by a new enemy called the novel coronavirus.

This is not a time to invoke unscientific ideas such as “my child is healthy so she will be fine if she gets the flu” or “the flu shot causes the flu” or “we don’t ‘do’ flu shots”. This is a time to accept that we are all susceptible to viral infections and influenza can be a serious viral infection especially in the young and old. This is a time to trust in decades of grounded science and protect your child from a virus that carries real risks to their health. In reality influenza poses a higher health risk to children than COVID. This is a time to try and limit a cause of fever and illness within your family so that we, and the larger medical community, can more effectively sort out the stressful complexities of this unfamiliar COVID World. This is a time to put aside any past hesitations and embrace the undeniable fact that immunizations work. To put it simply, this is the time to get your flu shot.  

We are committed to optimizing our flu vaccine program with the following strategies:
 
  • Emphasizing that every patient gets vaccinated during check ups and low risk urgent care appointments (sprained ankles, rashes, etc.) 
  • Opening numerous weekend flu clinics at various locations where you can schedule entire families 
  • Encouraging healthy siblings to be added for flu shots when someone in the family is being seen for a check up  
  • We are ambitiously aiming for all eligible patients to be fully vaccinated before Thanksgiving. We can do this with a shared commitment to this plan!