Drive-thru flu clinic in Kelowna may be dry run for future COVID-19 immunizations

It’s believed to be a first-of-its-kind flu clinic in Kelowna.

On Wednesday, CGB Medical held a drive-thru style flu clinic for its patients.

“Because we have to clean more often, we have to keep people apart from each other, we came up with an innovative solution to do a drive-thru immunization clinic,” said Dr. Janet Evans with CGB Medical.

Eighty-five of the clinic’s patients made appointments for Wednesday’s outdoor flu clinic, including Henry Torensma and his wife, Donna.

“I think it’s about the most efficient and safe way to go,” Henry Torensma told Global News.

“I don’t want to sit in the doctor’s office and you don’t know whether somebody has a cold or a flu or whatever. Here, I’m in my car safe as I can be and they come up, they do their thing and I’m gone way faster.”

COVID-19 has restricted mass influenza immunization clinics this year, making pharmacies and medical clinics busier than ever keeping up with what’s expected to be an increased demand for flu shots this season.

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Last month, the province announced an enhanced fall flu immunization campaign through the purchase of 1.9 million doses of the flu vaccine — an extra 450,000 doses to what was already planned.

But administering those doses safely during a pandemic comes with challenges.

It’s meant people have had to make an appointment to get immunized, and, in many cases, go on a waitlist.

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The drive-thru clinic concept has been adopted in other parts of the world and is now catching on in Canada.

“You can get a lot more people immunized in a shorter period of time,” Evans said.

The drive-thru flu clinic is similar to the COVID-19 testing site at Kelowna’s Urgent and Primary Care Centre. It could also be a glimpse into how a future COVID-19 vaccine may be provided.

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“We partly were thinking this might be a bit of a dry run for the eventuality of that, whenever that is,” said Evans.

Wednesday’s drive-thru flu clinic was not open to the public; only patients of CGB Medical.

CGB Medical held two other drive-thru flu clinics last week and has now vaccinated more than 200 of its patients.