We obtain our flu immunizations from the State of Washington, Department of Health who, in turn, receive it from their suppliers.  Vaccine makers do NOT ship all their supply at once but in several lots over several months.  As a result availability will be intermittent but is expected to be adequate to meet the demand.
The Health Department will set priorities for who should be vaccinated first (e.g. age group or health condition). We will make the vaccine available as it is made available to us.

Patients may get their vaccination by scheduling an appointment in one of our flu clinics when the vaccine is available.  The clinic dates have yet to be determined.

Flu vaccinations will only be available to established patients of the practice. 

Please check the website front page for more information as it becomes available.

Flu season can be stressful and cause high anxiety for you.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as we make every effort to get your children immunized.

Below is a statement from the King County Vaccinations For Children (VFC) Program.  Hopefully this information will help you understand how vaccine is made available, why we sometimes run out, etc. 

• The Washington State Dept of Health (DOH) determines the amount of flu vaccine that each county receives each year. Amounts are based on estimated number of eligible children, expected "uptake," available funding. King County's VFC Program does not have access to an unlimited amount of flu vaccine in whatever presentation (packaging) we (or health care providers) choose. King County will receive a set number of doses for children under 3 years and a set number of doses for children over 3 years, in specified packaging.
• For our state, manufacturers this year will be shipping flu vaccine to our vaccine distributor, McKesson Specialty in Memphis, Tennessee. DOH will notify me when flu vaccine is available at McKesson for King County to distribute.
• Vaccine makers will NOT ship ALL of our flu vaccine at one time, but in 3-5 "lots." We will begin distributing to King County providers as soon as the first lot comes in, but it will not be a provider's entire order unless it is a very small office requesting ~50 or fewer total doses. This is in order to make flu vaccine available as widely as possible throughout the county. The King County VFC Program currently has over 340 enrolled provider locations.
• About 120 million doses of flu vaccine are expected to be available this year nationwide. But it's not all ready and waiting in a refrigerated warehouse somewhere. The manufacturers are still making it, inspecting it, packaging it, and the FDA is overseeing all of this, now and for another month or more.

People may be frustrated by seeing commercial vaccinators, such as Safeway, WalMart or Costco, holding large flu clinics before there is much flu vaccine available at their own physician's office. This is because the volume of vaccine that businesses such as WalMart use is so much greater than the VFC Program, that their first "lot" (20-30% of total order) is obviously going to be bigger than what the VFC Program receives.

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