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dreamsharkI usually don't bother, but following the incessant drumbeat of terror about a looming TWINDEMIC I decided to be good and get a flu shot. And I figured while I was in the lab I could get blood drawn for that mostly unnecessary annual lab work they've been bugging me about. Holy shit, what a mess. First of all, I'm in the age group that is supposed to get the High Dose Flu Shot. Well, what all those incessant flu shot PSAs don't tell you is that there is a national shortage of the high dose vaccine. So if you just stop in a drug store and wait in line (as if anyone wants to do that these days) you are very unlikely to get the shot that your doctor wants you to get (assuming you are over 65, which I am so I figure everybody else is too).
So I figured I'd just schedule the flu shot at my local Health Partners Clinic, which would allow me to do those overdue labs at the same time. And maybe catch up on any other vaccines I should be having, since Mayo Clinic says you just might get significant bystander immunity to COVID by getting caught up with immunizations.
Well, that turned out to be damn near impossible. The nurse I talked to didn't know what vaccinations I should get, so I scheduled a phone appointment with my doctor. I had to wait 3 weeks for that, for some reason. Had a nice chat with him today and he said I don't need another pneumonia shot or an MMR but recommended the new shingles shots since the "old" one I got talked into 5 years ago turned out to be crap. And he rescheduled the lab order, which had finally expired after waiting 9 months for me to get it done.
He put in the orders and then I had to call the nurse line to schedule all this, since you can't just walk in these days. After 15 minutes on hold I got to the scheduler, where I learned that there is a 2 week waiting list for flu shots (!) and they have no idea whether they will have the high-dose vaccine then. They have some now, but apparently when they get a shipment it is gone in a day or two. You can't get the shingles shot and the flu shot at the same time, so I asked if I could arrange to get the flu shot on Oct 26 if they have the right vaccine and the shingles shot if they don't. Nooooo, there is no way to specify that. And my idea that I could get blood drawn for labs at the same time totally confused her. There are two separate computer systems for scheduling labs and vaccines and she couldn't do them both at the same time. I settled for taking the first available appointment for the flu shot and locking that in (because the dates were literally disappearing as we spoke). Then I had her look for a blood draw time right before or after the flu shot. She found one 20 minutes before. Which I suppose means that I have to go out and sit in my car between the two appointments? Because they surely don't want you lurking around in the waiting room, right?
Considering my reluctance to go anywhere as COVID is spiking, I have my doubts that any of this worth it. It certainly isn't worth three separate trips to the clinic. My current plan is to show up for the blood draw at noon and find out if they have the high dose vaccine. If they don't I will try to talk them into giving me the shingles shot instead. And if they won't do that I'm leaving.
Have any of you managed to get a high-dose flu shot this year?
So I figured I'd just schedule the flu shot at my local Health Partners Clinic, which would allow me to do those overdue labs at the same time. And maybe catch up on any other vaccines I should be having, since Mayo Clinic says you just might get significant bystander immunity to COVID by getting caught up with immunizations.
Well, that turned out to be damn near impossible. The nurse I talked to didn't know what vaccinations I should get, so I scheduled a phone appointment with my doctor. I had to wait 3 weeks for that, for some reason. Had a nice chat with him today and he said I don't need another pneumonia shot or an MMR but recommended the new shingles shots since the "old" one I got talked into 5 years ago turned out to be crap. And he rescheduled the lab order, which had finally expired after waiting 9 months for me to get it done.
He put in the orders and then I had to call the nurse line to schedule all this, since you can't just walk in these days. After 15 minutes on hold I got to the scheduler, where I learned that there is a 2 week waiting list for flu shots (!) and they have no idea whether they will have the high-dose vaccine then. They have some now, but apparently when they get a shipment it is gone in a day or two. You can't get the shingles shot and the flu shot at the same time, so I asked if I could arrange to get the flu shot on Oct 26 if they have the right vaccine and the shingles shot if they don't. Nooooo, there is no way to specify that. And my idea that I could get blood drawn for labs at the same time totally confused her. There are two separate computer systems for scheduling labs and vaccines and she couldn't do them both at the same time. I settled for taking the first available appointment for the flu shot and locking that in (because the dates were literally disappearing as we spoke). Then I had her look for a blood draw time right before or after the flu shot. She found one 20 minutes before. Which I suppose means that I have to go out and sit in my car between the two appointments? Because they surely don't want you lurking around in the waiting room, right?
Considering my reluctance to go anywhere as COVID is spiking, I have my doubts that any of this worth it. It certainly isn't worth three separate trips to the clinic. My current plan is to show up for the blood draw at noon and find out if they have the high dose vaccine. If they don't I will try to talk them into giving me the shingles shot instead. And if they won't do that I'm leaving.
Have any of you managed to get a high-dose flu shot this year?
