Drive-By Flu Shots

In Las Vegas, you can get cash, booze, even a wedding license at a drive-through, so why not a flu shot? With a record 140 million flu vaccinations expected to be administered this year in the U.S., hospitals and health clinics from Norwood, Mass., to Randolph County, Ala., have started offering drive-by shootings, using concern about the regular old flu to help prep for outbreaks of potentially far graver diseases like avian flu and anthrax.

The curbside care is simple: you pull up, read about the risks and sign a consent form, then bare your bicep and get a shot--all without leaving the driver's seat. In October in Lynchburg, Va., the Central Virginia Health District's first drive-by clinic served 300 patients in 3 1/2 hours. That's less than 45 seconds per vaccination (and no time cooped up in a room with possible germ spreaders).

But critics say that the process is dangerous and that the last place you want to be if something goes wrong is speeding down the highway. It takes time to hash out the risk factors associated with flu shots, such as being allergic to eggs or already having a fever when you get vaccinated. "Vaccines are not innocuous," says Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a consumer-led nonprofit in Vienna, Va. "We don't support a drive-by as if you're ordering a bottle of spring water."

Still, Dr. Kerry Gateley, Central Virginia's health director, says doctors' offices dole out the shots almost as quickly. The biggest risk, he adds, may be that some drivers get woozy after the shot. "If anybody was looking a little pale," he says, "we had a place for them to pull over." Reclining seat backs optional.