We will offer our first influenza clinic for this year on Friday, October 14, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. In addition, we have begun to give people their flu vaccine along with any scheduled office visit.
Get your flu vaccine Oct-Nov
You preferably should receive your annual influenza vaccine in October or November. That allows the efficacy to be secure through late spring. Influenza rarely becomes common until Christmas time, but updated immunity takes perhaps two weeks to develop.
Effective quadrivalent vaccines
We continue to use Sanofi Pasteur Flublok, a quadrivalent vaccine produced with recombinant viral DNA, for everyone under age 65. There is good evidence this is more effective than other vaccines based on inactivated virus.
For those over 65, we continue with Sanofi Pasteur Fluzone high-dose quadrivalent vaccine. This is produced from inactivated virus (in egg media) and contains 4x the antigen content of standard vaccines. Grandparents need a stronger stimulus to their immune system to mount a strong antibody response. We think this is the best vaccine available.
Incidentally, “quadrivalent” refers to the presence of four antigens (immune inducing substances) that produce antibodies to 4 different regions of the influenza vaccine. That makes it more likely to stop or slow down the virus and hence a more effective vaccine.
Schedule by phone or online
If you have an appointment with us the next two months, we will plan to give you your flu shot at that visit. You may also call the office to schedule.
We have activated our online scheduling calendar for October 14, so you can sign up yourself for that Friday. There are 4 openings per 15-minute time slot, so couples should be able to be accommodated easily.
