Flu Vaccine: Pediatrician vs Drug Store

Call ahead to make sure they can give a shot to your child.
Some places say a child below a certain age( I don't know how old ) has to be taken to a pediatrician.
Since my son is in middle school, we get our flu shots at Walgreens (Dad gets his at work).

I think your children are too young to be treated at a pharmacy. That was the case for me when our children were toddlers. Walgreens wouldn't do it and at that time they didn't carry the flu- mist (I was hoping to give my kiddos a reprieve on needles). Fortunately, our well checks fall during flu season and we were able to do some one stop shopping.

Here's the link from Walgreens that lists their age limits by state. I don't see any state that will allow them to work on anyone younger than 7 http://www.walgreens.com/topic/fluagechart.jsp

I have gotten the flu shot at the drug store as an adult with no problem. However, for a 2.5 year old I would go to the pediatrician. They have your child's medical records and have their methods of giving a shot with little pain. They also have different versions of the shot (with or without certain additives) and the flu mist which doesn't require a shot (but your kids may be too young for that).

My main concern would be which location would be able to provide you with the preservative-free (w/out thimerserol) vaccine. Those tend to be the single dose vaccines, and not the bottles w/ multi-doses that need preservatives. So whichever location can provide that for your young children is the one that I would go with.

ETA: Yes, what S.B. says is correct, too. We discovered this a few years ago ourselves, but I forgot.

If you are getting the mist, then not really, but the shot I would get from a doctor. The reason I say this is because a couple of years ago when I was forced to get the shot for my youngest son (we usually skip it because of his medical issues) I took him to the immunization clinic at the hospital and there they told me that the shot everyone had was causing seizure in some children and that they had stopped giving it, but not all the drug stores seemed to be up to date on that information. Since my Son can not get the mist I had to take him to children health services in order to get the safer single does shot for him.

Our insurance covers flu shots at the peds, but not at the drugstore. However, since we had just moved and didn't have a regular ped here (and they have to do a physical first before they will give a flu shot for a new patient), we just went to Walgreens. You *can* get flu shots for a 2.5 yr old (at least in FL and IL) if you go to an actual Take Care Clinic (vs any old Walgreens). I got mine at Walgreens too just so my 3.5 year old didn't have to get hers alone :)

Young Children need to get it from the Pediatrician. Typically, stores will not do this.

It is not the Doctor or the store that makes the vaccine.
They get the vaccines from the manufacturers.
"Who produces influenza vaccine for the United States?
Influenza vaccine for the United States is produced by a number of different vaccine manufacturers and licensed by the Food and Drug Administration. The CDC does not produce flu vaccine."
This is from the CDC website.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season-2012-2013....

Making an appointment at the Pediatrician for a shot, does not take long.

I personally get my Flu shots from my local drug store. It is always fine. And they ALSO, (wherever you get your shot from), thy give you an Info fact sheet, about it.

Doctor or county health department can give shots to young kids in most areas, but I know the huge CVS drugstore chain would not give shots to a child as young as yours. Check with Walgreen's before you haul the kids in there and end up with squirming, frustrated kids and no shots. I suspect you will end up at the pediatrician's anyway. And with the doctor, you can schedule the shots so there's less of a wait or no wait -- with the drugstores you have to turn up, sign in and hope there are not lots of folks ahead of you in line.

Good for you for getting the kids vaccinated. Get yourself a shot at the same time or get one on your own. This is already a record year for flu -- it was on several newscasts last night that in some areas of the U.S., flu last week spiked very high, higher than in recent years, and I heard today that at least 36,000 people in the U.S. died last year from complications of flu. Young kids are among the most vulnerable to complications. Get yourself (and your husband or SO) a shot too, because you need to stay well to care for the kids.

Don't forget the option of going to your county's Health Department Clinic.

I went with my mom to get her flu shot at the pharmacy and although it was fine, she had to wait a long time due to all the other people there to get their shots. It was a little bit of mayhem because they were also dealing with people just there to pick up prescriptions, etc.

I had a great pediatrician, but I took my kids to the Health Department for their vaccines. I didn't have to pay for the visit and after my divorce, on the sliding scale, the shots were free.

It's worth checking into.

If you have insurance that will pay for the shots, check with your insurance carrier first to see if there is a preference as far as who and how they will pay.

Best wishes.

No difference. Choose which one is cheaper to your pocketbook.

Dawn

The drug store is easy. The peds office refused to give me one due to pregnancy (silly). Liability. The OB only had kind with mercury. Also, the drug store was the only ones who had the kind without mercury. I figure, why put mercury in my body if I don't have to?

However, for the kids we got the nose kind (easy and painless, age 2 and up, no mercury) so they went to the Dr. for that.

And I saved 10% on groceries for going to the grocery store to get it done!

We go to the pedi for it b/c we get the nasal spray version as well as my son is a fall baby so we just get it during his well check and with his boosters it's a sucky day but it's easier to do it all at once for me.

I'm not sure it really matters. I've done both and have been perfectly happy, safe and fine.

However, check with your insurance. Some companies will only cover it if you go to the doctor's office but not at a pharmacy. Others will cover both. Also, pharmacies can be a little pricier, if that is an issue.

Many drug stores do not give shots to kids under 12. I actually don't know of any that do in my area.
I would check if they will do it for a 2.5 year old first.
Otherwise, no, it doesn't matter.