300 Get Drive-Through Flu Shots

WASHINGTON - About 300 people got drive-through flu shots at a medical clinic in Ashburn, Virginia, Saturday. That’s a 50% increase in the number who showed up last year.

Cars started rolling through the parking lot of the Nova Medical and Urgent Care Center around 10:00 a.m.

Customers filled out a form, got a quick check of their temperature, paid $25, and were vaccinated; all that happened in about eight minutes.

Patient Robert Beasley loved it. “Normally, you have to wait in the waiting room… wait to be called, go into the office… wait for them to get the vaccine… and give you the shot,” gushed Beasley. “Here, you just drive up. You give ‘em your paperwork, and you get your shot and you’re gone.”

The shots are for the regular seasonal flu. Physician Grace Keenan, who owns the clinic, said if the CDC has correctly guessed the specific seasonal flu virus, the vaccine should protect people by keeping illnesses rarer and milder.

“When you do meet with the infection,” explained Dr. Keenan, “You already have an immune system… like an artillery that can go and attack [the flu].”

Although the flu season in the U.S. doesn’t officially begin until the first week in October, 26 states are now reporting higher-than-usual numbers of flu cases. Among those 26 states are Maryland and Virginia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suspects most of these flu cases are H1N1 (or “swine flu”) viruses. A vaccine for that flu might be available in about ten days.

Dr. Keenan’s practice plans to give drive-through shots to patients at their Leesburg office on Sunday. And when vaccinations for the swine flu become available, Nova Medical and Urgent Care will again offer drive-through shots.
 

About 300 people got drive-through flu shots at a medical clinic in Ashburn, Virginia, Saturday. That’s a 50% increase in the number who showed up last year.

Cars started rolling through the parking lot of the Nova Medical and Urgent Care Center around 10:00 a.m.

Customers filled out a form, got a quick check of their temperature, paid $25, and were vaccinated; all that happened in about eight minutes.

Patient Robert Beasley loved it. “Normally, you have to wait in the waiting room… wait to be called, go into the office… wait for them to get the vaccine… and give you the shot,” gushed Beasley. “Here, you just drive up. You give ‘em your paperwork, and you get your shot and you’re gone.”

The shots are for the regular seasonal flu. Physician Grace Keenan, who owns the clinic, said if the CDC has correctly guessed the specific seasonal flu virus, the vaccine should protect people by keeping illnesses rarer and milder.

“When you do meet with the infection,” explained Dr. Keenan, “You already have an immune system… like an artillery that can go and attack [the flu].”

Although the flu season in the U.S. doesn’t officially begin until the first week in October, 26 states are now reporting higher-than-usual numbers of flu cases. Among those 26 states are Maryland and Virginia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suspects most of these flu cases are H1N1 (or “swine flu”) viruses. A vaccine for that flu might be available in about ten days.

Dr. Keenan’s practice plans to give drive-through shots to patients at their Leesburg office on Sunday. And when vaccinations for the swine flu become available, Nova Medical and Urgent Care will again offer drive-through shots.