flu shot – 1800PrepareBlog

We’re always in one “season” or another.

We’re leaving hurricane season and now we’re getting in to flu season. Never seems to let up with going from one danger zone to the next, huh? The good thing is, we’ve labeled our “seasons” so we know to react accordingly.

For flu season, brush up on your interpersonal etiquette and remember to keep your distance from folks who are sneezing or coughing, and cover your own sneezes and coughs in the crook of your elbow. And if hand sanitizer is part of your defensive arsenal, go ahead and stock up on a little now.

In response to flu season “Google Local” has put together a map showing flu shot providers who have listed their services. Go to http://www.google.org/flushot to see who in your area is providing shots this season. While the debate continues over the need and/or effectiveness of flu shots, one thing remains true; if a flu shot is part of your safety plan, we want to be able to help you find one.

Well Google can’t exactly cure the flu (yet!), but it can get you a lot closer to a favorable outcome. They recently launched the very useful Flu Shot Finder application that is integrated with Google Maps.

As its name suggests, the Flu Shot Finder helps you identify local places where you can get a flu shot.

One of the best features is that it shows you what type of flu shot is available at each individual location:

seasonal flu shot
H1N1 (swine) flu shot
both types of flu shots

Another great feature is that they show which locations are “Temporarily Out of Stock”.

However, even if a location looks like it’s not out of stock, it’s best to call ahead of time to determine hours and availability. In fact, it’s also worth calling the locations that are out of stock, since there’s no guarantee the information being provided to Google is real-time and a location may have restocked their supply of flu shots already.