Early voting is easy enough, but have you tried getting a flu shot?

[dreamshark]

I 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?

Comments

[pameladean]

I got a high-dose flu shot at the drive-through flu shot clinic at Hy-Vee in Eagan. They didn't have it in when we originally called, but said it would be in by October 3, which it was. The drive-through involved a lot of sitting around in the car, but it was safe enough, and outdoors. They only had one person doing the shots, though the line seemed set up for two. Part of the reason it seemed to be taking so long was that most cars had more than one person inside, basically a good idea, but it meant more waiting.

I have almost always found retail locations easier to deal with than any clinic for flu shots and they seem to get the vaccines in faster. So if the clinic (which is my clinic too) doesn't have the right shot, you might check around for drive-through clinics run by retail stores with pharmacies.

I had blood work done in early June at the Minneapolis Park Nicollet clinic, and their protocols looked good and it didn't take very long.

P.

[dreamshark]

Thanks for the feedback. The Minneapolis PN clinic is where I'm going. My doctor insisted that it was very quick and safe and efficient, which is probably true. I'm mostly frustrated at how hard it was to make an appointment. How long did you have to wait in the drive-through line?

[pameladean]

Probably about an hour.

When Raphael called to make sure they had the trivalent vaccine, she also asked if there were better and worse times to arrive, and got information about how things had generally been going. There was nobody behind us when we got there and then suddenly the line swelled into infinity after about half an hour, so for that day at leas the advice was useful.

P.

[pameladean]

I've always felt that that clinic was unnecessarily weird about making lab appointments. I'm not even sure you can get the right number from the website. My doctor gave it to me over the phone. P.

[bibliofile]

I was able to get my flu and shingles vaccines at the same time, but I'm still under 65 and getting the lower power flu shots. My sympathy on the extra rigamarole required for your arrangements.

Fortunately, my clinic system is kinda small, and for bloodwork no appointment is needed.

The waiting room had four chairs in it, basically as far apart as they could be.

[maruad]

We haven't had our flu shots either. There is a shortage in Canada as well.

[carbonel]

I'm under 65 and get the lower-dose version. Which involved picking up other prescriptions at Target and the person at the counter saying, "Do you want a flu shot?" I said yes, then had to wait about five minutes for it to be ready. Then it was done and I got a $5 credit chit.

The most annoying part (which isn't all that very) is that I've been asked many more times since then if I've had or want a flu shot in several different venues. Do I exude some sort of "needs a flu shot NOW" aura or something?

[dreamshark]

Until COVID I don't think they made appointments - you could just walk in (assuming that a doctor had submitted a lab order for you). I'm pretty sure that's what I did the last time I got labs there, but that was almost 2 years ago.

And as far as I can see, Park Nicollet has "improved" its website to the point where you cannot get ANY phone numbers from it! They want you to use their completely broken online system for scheduling appointments. I have tried several times and have been completely unable to get it to work. The only other option seems to be to call the clinic main number (which I found via Google) and wade through their fairly terrible phone tree. *blech*

[dreamshark]

No, the public health establishment has generated a flu shot hysteria, which they believe is the only way to motivate people. That's part of what is irritating me so much. The incessant drumbeat of "get a flu shot now!!" with no indication that the shot you need is probably not available.

ETA: seconds after I wrote this, YET ANOTHER email appeared in my mailbox urging me to get my flu shot now NOW NOW!!! No mention of the shortage of high-dose vaccine. The email was from Health Partners so they know perfectly well that the person they sent the email to was over 65.

[davidwilford]

As I'm still barely under 65, I got the low-dose flu shot at our local grocery store's pharmacy, which took about five minutes.