Currently the follow vaccines are available.
| Flu-Shot* | Unavailable |
| Flu-Mist | Available |
| VFC | Unavailable |
| * Only high-risk patients of Blue Fish can receive the flu injection in the office=NO parents will receive it, they will be encouraged to receive it elsewhere including parents who have babies < 6 months old. | |
During regular office hours, the flu vaccine will only be available to family members living in the same household with children <6 months old and to all patients of Blue Fish Pediatrics. For all other parents, see below.
The flu vaccine will be administered at all well child visits until supplies are exhausted (no additional appointment or phone call is required). We will also be giving separate flu-vaccine-only appointments (without a doctor’s consultation) during regular office hours until supplies are exhausted.
To help accommodate our busy families, we have designated four Saturdays for flu shots (the clinic will still be open on these Saturdays for sick patients). Any Blue Fish patient or family member living in the home is eligible to receive the flu vaccine on these two specially designated Saturdays (see below for dates). Please make an appointment for a flu-vaccine-only visit.
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Important Dates to Remember*: |
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Flu vaccines made available to patients during regular clinic hours |
Monday September 1, 2009 |
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First Family Flu Day (Flu vaccine for patients and family members) |
Saturday September 19, 2009 |
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Second Family Flu Day (Flu vaccine for patients and family members) |
Saturday September 26, 2009 |
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Third Family Flu Day (Flu vaccine for patients and family members) |
Saturday October 24, 2009 |
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Fourth Family Flu Day (Flu vaccine for patients and family members) |
Saturday October 31, 2009 |
*Although we anticipate having adequate availability of the vaccine for these dates we cannot guarantee stock due to the flux in manufacturing and shipping of the flu vaccine. Prior to coming in please check availability on our website: http://www.bluefishmd.com/index.php?id=216 We apologize for any inconvenience in advance.
Payment
Please read the following carefully. Regrettably, the answer is complicated and beyond our control.
All parents (and family members who are not Blue Fish patients) receiving the flu vaccine will have to pay cash prices. If you would like to receive the flu vaccine via your insurance, please arrange for your flu vaccine through your regular doctor.
Medicaid and CHIP: The vaccine is covered by your insurance as long as we have the VFC flu vaccine in stock. If we should run out of VFC stock, you can pay the cash price for the vaccine.
Commercial Insurance: You will have to pay your copay for your insurance. Even if your copay is higher than what we charge our cash paying patients, we are contractually obligated by the insurance carrier to charge you the full copay amount. In the past we have tried multiple times to negotiate with the insurance carriers to allow us to charge you the same price as our cash paying patients, and they would not budge on this matter. We apologize for this inconvenience, but legally we are obligated to do so. You always have the option of receiving the flu vaccine elsewhere such as a grocery store or pharmacy for their cash price (as they are not contracted with your insurance company).
For a downloadable copy of the above information, please click this link in order to download the current information regarding the flu and the flu vaccine at Blue Fish.