The local Safeway is offering 10% off your grocery purchase if you get a flu shot there. And the local Giant is offering $10 off your grocery purchase if you get a flu shot there.

I'd do it, but I'm kind of iffy on getting a flu shot at a grocery store. I know they're trained nurses and such, but still...

I got my flu shot at Walgreens in Brooklyn on Saturday; it is for $24.99 and it is done by the pharmacist.

@pecan 3.14159265: they could accidently pick up a flavor injector from the sample lady.

@Burning pakalolo not even noticing the weather: ehh, pharmacist isn't really a nurse usually though.

@Burning pakalolo not even noticing the weather: Did the same thing at a Walgreen's here in CT. A good deal all around. Took longer for me to fill out the form and answer the basic safety questions (allergic to eggs? ever had Guillain-Barre syndrome?) than the rest of the process put together.

In my area everyone is charging $24.99 to $30 unless you have a Costco membership. Seemed like I only paid $15 just a few years ago.

I'd prefer to just get sick so I can have a few days off from work and save myself $25.

Why not just wait for the free vacines at the road blocks?

@The Porkchop Express: what does a nurse do that a pharmacist can't? I would think its pretty easy, you fill the syringe to the level it should be, swab me down and inject. Not too complicated (at least as far as I can see).

Well that web site was a bundle of FAIL.

"The drug you searched for is not available on a discount drug program (nationwide).

There aren't any therapeutic alternatives available on any discount drug programs at this time. "

Random insurance question. If your prescription is packaged into your health plan and they make you use a certain pharmacy can you still take the script elsewhere if they're cheaper?

@Burning pakalolo not even noticing the weather: Someone wants to take a needle to you, you better make sure they know what the heck they're doing. Pharmacists aren't normally trained to inject people, nurses are.

@TinkishDelight: I think so, but you have to ask why they wanted you to use a certain pharmacy to begin with. Is the co-pay higher?

@pecan 3.14159265: they are not drawing blood or injecting me intravenously. Do you guys think they just send the kit to the drug stores and say "happy poking"? I would believe that there is plenty of training involved before they roll out this feature in the stores.

@pecan 3.14159265: You know I don't think it was an option. I got the cheapest plan, but the only difference I remember was coverage in and out of network. I had Kaiser under my parents and they *made* you use the Kaiser pharmacy, but this is just CVS. I should just bite the bullet and see what happens.

I'm always surprised at the number of youngish, otherwise healthy people that get flu shots every year. Why?

@TinkishDelight: Because just because you're young and healthy doesn't mean you actually want to lay in bed for four days with a runny nose and nausea.

@TinkishDelight: By law, you can take your Rx anywhere you want. Your insurer just won't pay out of network.

They may have some program with particular pharmacies ... my insurer had some kind of free program for pregnant women for health maintenance (to lower their costs by making sure you get adequate pre-natal care) and you had to use certain pharmacies to do that particular program. Which I didn't do because, having insurance and not being an idiot, I already had more than adequate prenatal care.

(And of course, pharmacies are under no obligation to fill your prescription. My sister's arthritis drug costs $1600/month and no pharmacies want to carry it for her in case she doesn't pick it up that month and they're out $1600. As if. She usually ends up having to go to a hospital pharmacy to get it, which is a major inconvenience.)

@TinkishDelight: That money might go toward you deductible if you use their network.

@TinkishDelight: personally I don't like the flu. Yeah I get to stay home but like Pecan said, laying in bed with nausea, runny nose, body aches and no energy is not high on my list of things I find enjoyable.

Heard a speech last week by an infectious disease MD who says the vaccine costs 90-cents per shot. That's a lot of overhead.

He also said the government would be providing the H1N1 (have one - need one?) vaccine for free. Care to predict whether retailers will charge more or less for that shot?

My office brought someone in to administer the shot last week, so I'm good until I can get the H1N1 vaccine.

Maybe it's because I've never had the flu (and never had a shot... imagine that), but with it's effectiveness constantly in question, adverse effects being brought to light and possible long term complications I just don't see the point if you're not in a position where your health is already compromised.

I'm also kind of a hippie and automatically get suspicious when nation-wide injections occur.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): @DH405: Interesting. Thanks.

@TinkishDelight: I have a baby under six months and a sister with a compromised immune system. Being in bed for a week would throw my life into disarray, it's true, but really I'm protecting my child and sister.

"I'm also kind of a hippie and automatically get suspicious when nation-wide injections occur."

Then you should educate yourself on the issues. I recommend [www.sciencebasedmedicine.org] for some facty goodness. What you call "suspicious" I call "they rang churchbells nationwide when a vaccine for polio was developed and people wept for joy in the streets."

@TinkishDelight: Who else are supposed to have the autistic children?

@Burning pakalolo not even noticing the weather: I don't even think they fill the syringe - I think they come pre-filled? It looked that way to me. I got my flu shot today, at my OB/GYN's. Free since I had it done with a regular monthly visit! :)

@MaytagRepairman: The last year I got one before this year was '04, and I distinctly remember it being $10 at Safeway. =/ Inflation!

@Burning pakalolo not even noticing the weather: Heck, give me the needle, I was trained to give daily shots to ailing family members. It's really not that hard.

@TinkishDelight: Lots of youngish people don't have health insurance - be they students or young professionals trying to get established and thus benefitless.

Also, lots of youngish people have small children. Or teach small children, or take care of them or something.

Lastly, I know that for this flu season in particular with the H1N1 stuff, I read that the worst age group for mortality rates will be 20-50 or so, since older people will already have immunity.

I had to get my 1st shot today in 5 years, since I'm pregnant. The one I got 5 years ago was because I worked at a daycare center. Otherwise I wouldn't see the need for myself.... but then again I have really good health insurance :)

I am anti-flu vaccine. I dont see the logic in getting a vaccine that gets you sick anyway. If you get sick without the vaccine, why pay $30 to get sick anyway? Its all $$$$ for the pharm companies. And as far as the H1N1, theres a couple people laid out at the hospital I work at right now for upper respiratory infections due to Tamiflu. Flu vaccines have mercury in it, among other things, but still people get them every year. Im glad Im not a lemming.

@TinkishDelight: The odds of an adverse reaction from the flu are considerably greater than that of an adverse reaction from the shot for me, as for most people, and I get the shot free at work. And since I have to get the work done whether I'm sick or not, it's foolish for me not to take the free opportunity to limit the chance of that sickness.

So that's why for me.

What you call "suspicious" I call "they rang churchbells nationwide when a vaccine for polio was developed and people wept for joy in the streets."

You cannot compare polio to the flu. They are two completely different viruses. If you want to go that route I'd point out that polio has been eradicated in the US and Europe while the flu is not only still very present, it's still spurring epidemics decades after a vaccine was first discovered. The polio vaccine only needed to be administered once while the flu shot will maybe get you through one season if you're lucky. Like a cold, the viruses causing influenza are forever changing and coming up with a vaccine each year that's halfway effective is not much better than a shot in the dark. New strains and mutations are constantly being introduced. They are literally making educated guesses about which strain will be dominate that year and base the vaccine on those estimations.

I'm an environmental scientist. This isn't an anti-science thing. I have no problem with vaccines. I'm pissed that I had to suffer through chickenpox. I'll jump for joy for joy for an HIV vaccine. Yay TB shots. I just think that the flu shot is incredibly overhyped and over administered. It's not nearly as effective as the public is lead to believe and there's just no reason to get this temporary band aid of a flu vaccine when you're not at risk. It's only about 60% effective (as low as 30% for the elderly) and you're opening yourself to the possibility of a myriad of other health risks. There have been numerous studies showing how small of an impact the percentage of people that get vaccinated has on the percentage that contract the virus. I just don't see a need for these mass- vaccinations of the young and healthy.

@AndroidHumanoid: I don't think anybody sees the logic in that, but that's not what the flu vaccine is. It can't guarantee that you won't get flu, but it reduces the chance considerably; it certainly doesn't "get you sick," either. And while there is thimerosal involved in the vaccine's production, most doses have virtually none of it in the final dose, and there's no associated ill effects from it in that amount. If understanding the risks makes me a lemming, so be it; after all, the lemmings' mindless plunge is a myth too.

@rachaeljean:

Lots of youngish people don't have health insurance - be they students or young professionals trying to get established and thus benefitless.
Why would you need insurance for the flu? If you get the flu the only thing you can do is treat the symptoms which are all over the counter. If you mean illness to the point of a hospital stay I can assure you that percentage has a heck of a lot of 0's after the decimal. Certainly smaller than the percentage of healthy young adults that have an adverse reaction to the shot itself.

Also, lots of youngish people have small children. Or teach small children, or take care of them or something.
That would be considered at risk.

Lastly, I know that for this flu season in particular with the H1N1 stuff, I read that the worst age group for mortality rates will be 20-50 or so, since older people will already have immunity.
Was this written by the same people that said we'd all die of the bird flu, or SARS, or anthrax, or terrorist attacks? Shouldn't I already be dead from the first time the swine flu came about? An increase in mortality rate means it will go from .0001% to .0002%. Fear mongering will keep you in your closet forever.

It doesn't include Costco's prescription drug prices (which are available online, so its not like they are not available.)

Great Idea for finding drugs. Crappy in their application. I live in Georgia and the generic form of my medicine, according to their site is 502.17 miles away in VA. I would save a whopping $2.50 (if I sign up for a membership at the store) No other choices shown. It all appears to be information volunteered by site visitors. Hardly reliable since drug prices and site visitors change like the wind.
This is not some exotic drug I am looking for. It is one that has been on the market everywhere for 40+ years.

@TinkishDelight: Just on the last bit--it's actually the CDC that says some older people seem to have some immunity to this, perhaps as a result of exposure to a similar strain decades ago. So it's not media-created fancy.

I don't think that seasonal flu is something that everybody needs to get vaccinated for either, but I also don't agree with the risk-benefit ratio you're predicating. I think it's overstating the risk of adverse reaction and understating the impact of seasonal flu even on the healthy young population--even if you're not at much of risk of dying from flu, you're at considerable risk of lost productivity (which is going to be one of the major national issues if we have essentially double seasonal flu this winter), and that has its own deleterious effects, especially if you're paid hourly. (I'm not paid hourly, but I still took months to recover from the screwed-up work queues the last time I had seasonal flu. No, thanks.)

So I think I agree with you that we're talking a different kind of immunological challenge, but I don't think I agree that flu shots therefore offer risk without commensurate advantage.

@kalaratri: normally, you'd be dosing subcutaneously (into fat tissue, relatively shallow)
flu vaccine needs to be delivered intramuscular - into a muscle, usually deeper than subQ. (not saying that you can't do it, just saying that IM takes a bit more training than subQ)

I don't understand why people are afraid the swine flu shot is "untested" when it is made exactly the same as other annual flu shots that have been tested for years. Same labs, same ingredients, same preservatives, same manufacturing methods. It is identical each year except for the genetic component of flu that changes.

Whether or not people agree with flu shot is a different argument. But saying swine flu shot is scary because it is "untested" is a lot of worry over nothing. People should make their decision based on their feelings of flu shot in general but not by worry of this flu shot in particular.

@Saboth: That sounds like someone who hasn't had the flu recently. I'll take a shot, thanks.

@TinkishDelight"...:and you're opening yourself to the possibility of a myriad of other health risks."

What health risks, exactly? I get a flu shot every year, and if I'm exposing myself to unnecessary risk I would like to know.

@rachaeljean: If what I got was typical, it was a prefab device. It was sealed in a pouch/envelope, a piece of tape (?) was removed from one end, a button was pushed, the needle clicked (or flipped) out, I got the injection, then another button pushed, the needle retracted into it and cap put on (or the needle was removed and its sharp end buried in the cap).

There may be flaws in this description, the person who did this was moving fairly fast. And to be honest, I wasn't all that keen on staring at the needle that was about to plunge into my arm. But I can say that the thing was self-contained ... they did not start with an empty syringe and fill it from a vial.

@TinkishDelight: I got mine because I have a close relative who is a physician, who recommends that EVERYONE regardless of age or condition get the flu shot EVERY year. It should not just be reserved for the oldest/youngest/most-infirm people, she says.

The only time she recommended differently was in 2004 when the supply of flu vaccines in the US was tight and it was feared there might not be enough for everyone ... that year she said I should forgo it in favor of others. And I did.

I make my own flu shots at home!

@Saboth: Yeah, that's how I used to feel in high school and middle school. And then when I actually would get sick, I would remember how miserable it was to be sick.

I'll take not-sick, thank you very much.

@Islandkiwi: The vaccine consists of combatants to three different strains of flu. As I mentioned above this combo changes every flu season based on what researchers *believe* will be the dominant virus. Since the formula is constantly changing, there has been very little research to determine the long-term effects of each and every combination that has previously been administered. Apparently this year's cocktail has three completely new strains. There's just no way that you can do in depth tests previous to release when you have less than a year to come up with something new.

Recently they have been stepping up research in short term effects, especially this year with the new swine flu vaccine on the market, but unfortunately long term effect research still gets little to no attention. Some of the documented long-term effects from the few studies that have been done are progressively weakened immune system (which makes sense because you are annually exposing yourself to an extremely weak virus in hopes that it will put your immune system on the defense and provide a boost, but it could just as easily become adjusted to these weaker viruses and not be prepared for exposure to something stronger) and damage to the cardiovascular system. There was an article on CNN that went more in depth. I will post it when I find it.

@TCama: I miss middle school!

@floraposte:

I see his point too though...everyone panics and thinks they need a flu shot. Basically if you are very young, or very old, you *might* need one. Then there are shortages and everyone acts like it is the end of the world. "Oh noooos....no flu shot for me! I am 22 and can't miss any work this week, I have a deadline!" Chill....getting sick is part of life, and all the vitamin C, zinc and flu shots in the world aren't going to allow you to live a stress free life!