From Dr. Bradshaw: Yesterday’s post on social media regarding flu shots created some confusion, for which I personally apologize. Let me offer some clear and true facts about flu vaccines:

  1. We at Eugene Pediatrics strongly desire that all children ages 6 months and older be immunized against influenza, a potentially serious viral illness that circulates annually and hospitalizes many children and adults.
  1. All children receive identical flu shots—regardless of their insurance—in terms of ingredients, strains and expiration dates. Only the dosing is different for babies 6 months-3 years vs. older kids ages 3 years and up.
  1. Eugene Pediatrics orders thousands of flu vaccine doses every January. Unfortunately, we cannot control when those vaccines are manufactured and delivered. Usually, they arrive at our clinic in October.
  1. As soon as we receive vaccines, we give them, so as to protect kids as quickly as possible. This year, we received our vaccines for older kids before our baby/toddler shots. We started immunizing big kids as soon as we could.
  1. The Vaccines for Children Program (VFC) was created by the Federal Government in 1989 to help provide vaccines free of charge to children on Medicaid. The VFC Program requires medical clinics to use only the vaccines they supply for those children. We must keep meticulous records to show that those shots go to Medicaid patients only, otherwise clinics can be forbidden from giving ANY shots to ANY children.
  1. At this moment, we are still waiting for our VFC infant/toddler shots to arrive, but we are hopeful that they will get here soon. If your child is on a waitlist, we will call you as soon as we can schedule your vaccination. Please feel free to call us if you have any questions.
  1. We will continue to receive batches of flu shots throughout the fall and winter, and we will give them as we receive them.

Our intention is to care for every child just like our own and that remains our central mission.