By Cynthia Haggitt
There are many options available to adult citizens who are in need of a flu vaccine. Like most healthcare facitilites around the Tri-County area vaccinations are provided either by appointment or have been occurring in a drive-thru clinic setting. Currently there is another option that is being made available to adults who cannot leave their homes and the Calhoun County Health Department (CCHD) will be offering the flu vaccines to those who live in the county and are homebound.
According to the CDC webpage on vaccines and the homebound who are providers vaccinating homebound persons should carefully pre-plan to understand how they can most efficiently prevent vaccine wastage and ensure safe and effective vaccination by:
■ Estimating the number of doses needed as accurately as possible. Contact recipients or their caregivers in advance to determine those who wish to be vaccinated .Plan to use all doses in a vial transported for home vaccination to minimize wasting vaccine doses, such as having contingency plans for vaccination of caregivers, or other persons in the home to avoid vaccine wastage.
■ Providing information in a variety of accessible formats (e.g., American Sign Language, multiple languages, braille, large font, low literacy, materials with pictures or visual cues).
■ Mapping out travel plans to ensure vaccine is utilized within the approved time frames for use of vaccine at different temperatures, including factoring in pre-vaccination preparation time, and post-vaccination observation time.
To make arrangements for a nurse to come to your home to administer a flu vaccine, please call CCHD at 618-576-2428 by Monday, Nov 8, 2021 and have your insurance information available at that time.
