GREENFIELD — Hancock Health is taking steps to make getting a flu shot easier and more convenient by hosting a low-cost flu shot drive-thru Saturday at the hospital in Greenfield.
The vaccinations will be administered by nurses and nurse practitioners, and those receiving the shots don’t have to leave their cars, organizers said.
The event will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Hancock Regional Hospital, 801 N. State St., in Greenfield. The vaccines cost $20 each and are payable with cash or check only.
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Announcement of the event comes weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed last year’s flu season was the deadliest in at least four decades.
An estimated 80,000 Americans died of flu and its complications last winter, the CDC’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield, told The Associated Press last month. In Indiana, more than 300 people died during the 2017 flu season, according to state records.
The revelation has health experts across the country encouraging people get flu shots. But local healthcare leaders know that might be easier said than done. Finding time for a visit to the doctor or the cash to pay for a flu shot — the vaccines can cost up to $45 at some walk-in clinics or pharmacies, the AP reports — can be challenging.
Hancock Health is hoping its drive-thru flu shot clinic will lessen those burdens, said Stephanie Wilson, the network’s strategic business coordinator.
Patients will not have to leave the comfort of their cars to receive a flu shot Saturday, Wilson said. They’ll simply need to pull their cars under the overhang of the Hancock Surgery Center, and nurses will be there to help. A pinprick later, and they’re free to go about their day.
Families with kids and those with limited mobility will benefit from not having to climb out of their cars to get the vaccines, she said. Those with busy schedules will benefit from not having to make an appointment; and those without insurance will surely appreciate being able to receive the shot at a cheaper cost, she added.
Organizers of the event are recommending that anyone 6 months or older get a vaccination. They’re also reminding residents that its best to get a flu shot before the end of the month.
October is typically when influenza activity begins to increase, Wilson said. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against the flu, she said.
During last year’s flu season, influenza-like illness began to increase in November and remained elevated through the end of March, making it one of the longest flu seasons in recent years, according to the CDC.
Flu is so common that not all flu cases are reported, and flu is not always listed on death certificates. So the CDC uses statistical models, which are periodically revised, to make estimates, according to the The Associated Press.
Fatal complications from the flu can include pneumonia, stroke and heart attack.
CDC officials called the 80,000 figure preliminary, and it may be slightly revised. But they said it is not expected to go down. It eclipses the estimates for every flu season going back to the winter of 1976-1977.
Last winter was not the worst flu season on record, however. The 1918 flu pandemic, which lasted nearly two years, killed more than 500,000 Americans, historians estimate.
Some 183 children died in the U.S. as a result of the 2017 flu outbreak, with 80 percent of those deaths in children who had not received a flu shot, according to the CDC.
At least three people have died from the flu already this year, the AP reports. They include two people in Kentucky and one child in Florida.
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Hancock Health is offering a drive-thru flu shot clinic from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday at Hancock Regional Hospital, 801 N. State St., in Greenfield.
Patients may enter the Hancock Regional Hospital parking lot from entrances on State Street or Boyd Avenue. There will be signs posted providing directions to the clinic, which will be under the overhang of Hancock Surgery Center, near door No. 23.
The cost of the influenza vaccine is $20; cash or check only.
Patients will not need to leave their cars. Vaccinations are administered by Hancock Health nurses and a nurse practitioner.
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