Airports offer busy travelers flu shots

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Airports offer busy travelers flu shots

By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer Wed Dec 5, 12:13 PM ET

ATLANTA - After taking off shoes, pulling change out of pockets and

going through security checkpoints, passengers now can roll up their

sleeves and get a flu shot at gateside kiosks and health stations in

some major U.S. airports.

Although health clinics at many U.S. airports have offered flu shots

for years in public areas outside security checkpoints, officials

found that few passengers want to risk missing their flights by

getting vaccinated before clearing the checkpoints.

So this year, airports including those in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and

Newark, N.J., are offering flu shots in " airside " areas — passenger

concourses inside the checkpoints.

" It's helpful being on the airside because people ... don't know how

long its going to take getting through security so they don't want to

take a risk of waiting in a medical clinic or being stuck in security

and not making their plane, " said Maureen Zampella, director of

nursing and general operations manager of Harmony Pharmacy & Health

Center Inc. The company offers flu shots at its clinic in Terminal C

of Newark Liberty International Airport.

It takes less than five minutes to get vaccinated at an airside flu

shot clinic, says Dr. Dominic Mack, chief medical officer of The

AeroClinic, which has two flu shot kiosks in Concourse C of

Hartsfield- Atlanta International Airport.

The cost ranges from $15 to $35, depending on the clinic. Shots are

available to most flyers. Exceptions include people with allergies to

chicken eggs and feathers or thimerosal, a preservative in flu shots

and contact lens solution. Most of the gateside clinics are in

domestic concourses, but clinic officials say they provide service to

passengers who connect to other domestic and international flights.

" It's a viable option ... especially for business travelers. They

don't have time to go to the physician, " Mack said. " This offers

another option for the population to get their flu shots. "

But passengers taking the shots won't be protected right away. Those

vaccinated develop some immunity to the flu virus after three or four

days. It takes about two weeks for a flu shot to offer full protection.

Being vaccinated now offers plenty of time for the shot to fully take

effect before the peak flu season begins in the U.S., typically after

December, Zampella said.

Danny Manzon of ville, Fla. wanted to get a flu shot for three

months but the busy restaurant consultant never had the time to get

vaccinated. So he jumped at the chance to get one from a kiosk near

his airline gate at the Atlanta airport.

" The convenience is great, " Manzon, 53, said after getting a flu shot

on Tuesday from The AeroClinic kiosk, located in front of an AirTran

Airways gate in Concourse C.

Ultimately, airport health clinics may offer more than flu shots to

busy passengers near gates. Health officials say they're considering

other kiosk-based services in the future, including more vaccinations

and tests for high blood pressure or cholesterol.

" We're finding that's where people are, " said ,

spokeswoman for Denver Health, which operates the Medical Clinic at

DIA, or Denver International Airport. " Especially if you're in an

airport where a large percentage of our travelers are there for

connecting flights, you want to be able to offer that convenience. "

The Atlanta airport clinic is considering offering pneumococcal

vaccine once the flu season ends, based on requests from travelers

approaching the kiosks. It also may offer blood pressure and

cholesterol tests at the kiosks in the future, Mack said. The Denver

clinic wants to offer similar services and may also address altitude

sickness, said.

Last year, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport offered about 5,000

flu shots to airport passengers and employees from kiosks next to gates.

" We didn't know if it was going to be successful. It went over great

and we asked the (Chicago) Department of Aviation this year to do

kiosks full-time " at O'Hare and Chicago Midway Airport, said Dr.

Zautcke, medical director for the University of Illinois Medical

Center at O'Hare. " Business travelers love it. They are just thanking us. "

Dr. iel Hupert, assistant professor of public health and

medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New

York, says the gate vaccination programs make sense as a public health

measure.

" Anything that makes flu shots more accessible is a good thing, " said

Hupert, who has no connection to the flu shot clinics. " It's always

helpful during normal times to try out new mechanisms (to distribute

vaccine). This idea of offering vaccine in airports is actually an

interesting and helpful step. "

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