FLU VACCINE INFORMATION STATEMENT
To our families of Centre Pediatrics:
I wanted to provide an update to our flu clinics for the 2020/2021 season. Since my last message, we have been able to negotiate with Boston Childrens’ Hospital to be able to use the Brookline Place Garage to do outdoor vaccines. As I had mentioned in the previous message, we anticipate this to be a very busy season and the demand for flu vaccine to be high. Our likely rate limiting step is going to be the procurement of vaccine from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as they provide all the flu vaccines for children under 19 years of age. We will be trying to accommodate everyone in the coming 2-3 months to make sure every child can get their flu vaccine. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you more about our drive through flu clinic. There are 2 major things to pay attention to: the dates of these clinics and the procedures to schedule your appointment.
The dates of our initial rounds of clinics are the following:
September 17 6:00 – 8:00 PM (FULL)
October 13 6:00 – 8:00 PM
October 21 6:00 – 8:00 PM
October 24 10 AM – 2 PM
October 29 6:00 – 8:00 PM
We anticipate the need for more than the above dates and times. We are looking to add more dates based on getting vaccines from the state and the hospital letting us use the garage. Please bear with us as we try to schedule these to accommodate everyone.
SCHEDULING YOUR FLU VACCINES:
As you all may imagine, the number of phone calls coming into the office is much higher than normal years and is making answering phone calls a little more difficult. Please use the following method to schedule your flu vaccine so as to not tie up the phones for emergent calls that come into the practice: Call 617-713-6200 and leave a message with your name, your child(ren)’s name, preferred date of clinic, and a callback phone number. One of our office staff members will call you back to schedule your appointment. We will make every effort to call back as soon as possible but it depends on the volume of calls to return. Also remember that we are also scheduling flu vaccines in our office during regular business hours.
Thank you all for your understanding in these uncertain times. We appreciate your patience.
Sincerely,
Parag Amin, MD
Procedure for Families Attending Drive-Through Flu Clinic
We will be doing the flu vaccine administrations in the One Brookline Place Parking Garage on the 5th or 6th floor. This is our first time doing these clinics so please bear with us as we work out the kinks! Please make sure you have a scheduled time. If you have not heard back from our office, your shot has not been scheduled yet – there has been an overwhelming number of calls to return!
***Please plan to arrive during your designated 15 minute window.***
Please enter the garage in the following manner: From Route 9 Westbound, turn Right onto Pearl Street. As you approach the parking garage in this way, there is an entrance as the garage starts (it has 3 lanes in and out). Please make your way up to the 5th or 6th floor where you will see our signs/setup. If you arrive a little bit early, please park and wait on a lower level.
Please stop your car where you see our table set up for checking in. You will be directed to move your car forward to a number. Please remain in your car as you pull into a directed parking spot. If your child needs to be held during vaccine administration, please have an adult sitting with that child in the back seat. Our goal will be to administer vaccines to your child(ren) through either an open window (children older than age 3) or open door (children less than age 3) to minimize all exposures.
Once the vaccine is administered, please proceed up to the next level where you can turn around and head back down through the garage to the first floor at the same entrance you came in and then proceed to the Right if you need to get to Brookline Avenue or to the Left if you are going to Route 9 West. Please do not use the entrance/exit that lets you out in the teardrop driveway to the building so that we can keep traffic moving in a timely manner.
