Annapolis Pediatrics Flu Clinics

Our flu clinics are over for this season.

Please call and make an appointment with your doctor or nurse practitioner if you still need the vaccine.

Information about the vaccines and our completed clinics can still be found below.

Annapolis Pediatrics Flu Clinics Begin in October

New this year: Clinics are scheduled for several offices

Fall is a wonderful time of year for kids: fall festivals, apple picking, Halloween, and flu shots. Well, we know flu shots aren’t the best part of fall, but parents know that it’s better to get the vaccine than to get the flu. This year, we will offer both traditional flu shots and the FluMist® to eligible patients. FluMist can be given to patients who:

• Are over 24 months of age,
  
• Don’t have a history of asthma or wheezing, any chronic illnesses, or a suppressed immune system,
  
• Aren’t sensitive to eggs or gelatin.
  

Detailed information about FluMist eligibility can be found below. Traditional flu shots are also available for children between 6 and 24 months of age and children who aren’t able to receive FluMist.

Both forms of the vaccine are effective against the flu.

Last year, the first confirmed case of the flu in Maryland was in the beginning of December. It can take up to a month to develop full protection from either vaccine. For this reason, Annapolis Pediatrics will begin flu clinics in October.

You must schedule an appointment to attend our flu clinics. Please call any of our offices to schedule your appointment. In the Annapolis office, please follow the prompts for the same day appointment line. Each flu clinic has a limited number of spaces, so call soon to schedule the date you prefer. The following flu clinics are planned:

Patients will be able to check in for flu clinics at the beginning of the time listed above, but not earlier. If you arrive earlier you will have to wait to check in and you may be sharing our waiting area with sick children. Please note that in the past there has often been a crowd at the start of the scheduled clinics, but they typically taper off, so consider coming in later during the clinic time window.

If your child has a regularly scheduled appointment this fall, he or she may be able to get their flu vaccine at that visit. Please ask your doctor or nurse practitioner at your visit.
As always, children under 9 who are receiving flu vaccine for the first time must get 2 doses in the same year that are scheduled 30 days apart. This is true for either injectible vaccine or FluMist. If your child has gotten 2 doses of flu vaccine in the past, only one dose is required this year.

FluMist® Eligibility Information for Annapolis Pediatrics Patients

This year we are happy to offer our patients both the injectable flu vaccine and the FluMist®, a live intranasal flu vaccine. FluMist is available to patients 2 years of age and older with the following exceptions:

• Children between 6 months and 2 years of age (children younger than 6 months should not get either vaccine)
  
• Any patient with asthma or one or more episodes of wheezing within the past year
  
• People who have long term health problems with:
  
  • Heart Disease
    
  • Kidney or liver disease
    
  • Lung Disease
    
  • Metabolic disease such as diabetes
    
  • Asthma
  • Anemia or other blood disorders
    
  • Anyone with certain muscle or nerve disorders, such as seizure disorder or cerebral palsy, that can lead to swallowing problems
    
• Anyone with a weakened immune system
  
• Children or adolescents on long term aspirin treatment
  
• Pregnant women
  
• Anyone with a nasal condition serious enough to make breathing difficult, such as a very stuffy nose

This information comes from the CDC’s vaccine information sheet on the Live, Intranasal Flu Vaccine for 2008-2009. Please alert the staff if any of the above conditions affects your child.

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