Avoid Vaccine Shortage Delays, Get Flu Shots Early

Send this article to a friend.

Printer friendly version.

Avoid Vaccine Shortage Delays, Get Flu Shots Early

You should plan to get flu shots early this year, during October or November. For the past two years, flu vaccines have been in short supply causing dangerous delays for those most at risk of contracting the virus— seniors 65 years and older. Influenza or “the flu” is far more dangerous than a bad cold. Each year the disease causes about 114,000 to be hospitalized and about 20,000 die.

Your flu shot is free if you are enrolled in Medicare Part B, and your health care provider accepts assignment (the Medicare payment in full.) You do not have to pay co-insurance or a deductible. If you are a Medicare HMO member, most HMOs require that you get your flu shot from a physician within your HMO, so check first. Seniors covered under Medicaid programs should check with local social services or your local health department. Medicare Part B will pay for the shot no matter where you get it as long as the health care provider agrees to not charge you more than what Medicare pays.

Source: “Fight Flu and Pneumonia,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 2002.

October 2002