Posted by Meghan Verena 
 
 Flu season is just around the corner and trying to squeeze in your latest immunization may not be on the top of your To Do List. 
 
 You’re not alone. The flu affects up to 20% of the population each year — but it’s preventable. While vaccination remains the single best option, less than 50% of adults receive a flu shot. 
 
 Let us help you beat the bug. On Thursday, we’re bringing house calls back with UberHEALTH across more than 35 US cities. From 11 am until 3 pm we will be delivering wellness packs for $10. If you request and receive a wellness pack, you’ll also have the option to request a free flu shot from a registered nurse for up to ten people – at the single touch of a button. 
 
 ON THURSDAY, FLU PREVENTION IS ON DEMAND IN 35 CITIES 
 
 HOW IT WORKS: 
 
 Open your Uber app between 11 am and 3 pm Select the ‘UberHEALTH’ option and request. Pro Tip: Please select a suitable indoor location prior to UberHEALTH arriving. Upon arrival, users will receive a wellness pack for $10 and the option to request a Fluzone® vaccine from a registered nurse from Passport Health for up to ten people – at no cost. If you request a shot, the nurse will handle all paperwork and consent forms We expect demand for UberHEALTH to be high, so your patience is appreciated. 
 
 Last year we learned some valuable insights from our first UberHEALTH pilot program and today our journal was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine* that explores more. Convenience and delivery method are both key components of many people’s decision of whether or not to get a flu shot.We know there is more that we can do and are thrilled to have John Brownstein, PhD joining as our first advisor in the field of health care. With his guidance and expertise, we will be able to identify other ways we can leverage the Uber platform so we can drive to a healthier future. 
 
 Find A Participating City Atlanta Baltimore Boise Boston Charleston Charlotte Columbus Connecticut - Hartford County Dallas Des Moines Detroit Grand Rapids Houston Indianapolis Kansas City, MO Los Angeles Madison Milwaukee Nashville New Jersey (Jersey City & Hoboken) New Orleans New York Orange County Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland Raleigh-Durham Rhode Island Richmond San Francisco Seattle Tampa Bay Washington, D.C. Worcester Sorry, no city found Show all %d cities found Show all cities 
 
 Unable to get UberHEALTH, but still interested in getting a flu shot? Use VaccineFinder to find the nearest shot provider nationwide. 
 
 DETAILS: 
 
 Cost is $10 for wellness pack which includes a UberHEALTH water bottle, tissues, hand sanitizer, lollipop and recyclable UberHEALTH tote. 
 
 Maximum of one wellness pack & ten free flu shots per request. 
 
 All vaccinations (appropriate for ages 4 and up) will be administered by a registered nurse through Passport Health . All consent information and paperwork stays between the recipient and them. 
 
 About John Brownstein, PhD: 
 
 John Brownstein, Ph.D., is the Director of Computational Epidemiology Group at Boston Children’s Hospital and Professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. He is the co-founder of Epidemico and is joining as Uber’s first advisor in the field of health care. 
 
 *This article is made freely available to our readers via an agreement with the American College of Physicians. Website users may not distribute or post this article without written permission from the American College of Physicians. Posting or distributing article PDFs not only violates the ACP copyright, but it also could proliferate the sharing of non-authoritative versions of articles. Brownstein JS, Huston JE, Steingold L, Joyce MV. On-Demand Delivery of Influenza Vaccination. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163:806-807. doi:10.7326/L15-5169 Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â© 2015 American College of Physicians. Used with permission. 
 
 Sources:CDC National Early Season Flu Vaccination Coverage, United States, November 2014. 
 
 Thompson M. Updated Estimates of Mortality Associated with Seasonal Influenza through the 2006-2007 Influenza Season. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2010;59(33):1057-1062. ||||| 
 
 Kevin Flynn got a flu shot in Boston last year from nurse Kate Dicker. He used Uber's one-day on-demand service. (Courtesy of Uber) 
 
 Haven't gotten your flu shot yet? On Thursday, you can order one up using Uber. 
 
 Customers who normally use the Uber smartphone app to call for a ride will be able to request a flu shot -- and a nurse in an Uber car will show up at their home or office in about three dozen cities across the country. 
 
 The charge is $10, but the nurse can give up to 10 flu shots at each location for no additional charge. So work colleagues can split the cost among themselves. 
 
 But it's only a one-day offer. 
 
 Sorry, kids. There's a nationwide FluMist shortage so you'll probably have to get a shot. 
 
 Last year, the company provided flu shots for a day in Boston, New York, Washington and Chicago. The effort was so successful -- with more than 2,000 vaccinations -- that Uber and its partners decided to scale up this winter. 
 
 The on-demand flu shots will be available between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Passport Health, a travel-clinic company with locations across North America, is again providing the registered nurses. 
 
 Organizers expect interest to be high. Users will be able to tap an option labeled "UberHEALTH" to request a nurse. 
 
 "If you don't get one the first time, you'll get a message that basically says all cars are busy and to please try again," said company representative Sarah Maxwell. 
 
 
 
 Screenshot of what Uber users will see if they want to request a flu shot. 
 
 Organizers plan to have more than 10,000 flu shots available. Hundreds of nurses will be at the ready in Uber vehicles across the country, with the specific number varying by city, Maxwell said. The $10 fee will cover a portion of the total cost; the remainder is being donated by Uber, Passport Health, and Epidemico, a public health data mining company owned by Booz Allen Hamilton. 
 
 Another reason the ouch! of a flu shot may be worth it 
 
 John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, came up with the idea last year as a strategy for boosting vaccination rates. Though experts say vaccination is the single best way to prevent the spread of influenza, only 30 percent of adults ages 18-49 get inoculated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Convenience and accessibility are often cited as barriers. 
 
 But new technology may help address the convenience factor. Brownstein and researchers surveyed consumers who used the service last year to get their flu shots. Nearly 80 percent said they were unlikely to have gotten the vaccine if not for the on-demand delivery, according to a paper released Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. 
 
 "This is basically a hard-to-reach population," Brownstein said in an interview. "They're not opposed to the vaccine. It's just not part of their routine." 
 
 Whether such efforts are practical depend on cost-effectiveness and scalability, which the researchers didn't address in their paper. But if such programs are shown to be practical, they could be extremely useful in scenarios "when near-complete immunization of the population is necessary to prevent circulation of an infectious agent, especially one with severe consequences," they noted. 
 
 Here are the cities where the on-demand flu shots will be available to Uber users: 
 
 Northeast: Baltimore; Boston; Hartford, Conn.; Hoboken, N.J.; Jersey City, N.J.; New York; Philadelphia; Providence, R.I..; Washington, Worcester, Mass. 
 
 South: Atlanta; Charleston, S.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Houston; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; Orlando; Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; Richmond; Tampa Bay, Fla. 
 
 Midwest: Columbus, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Detroit; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; Pittsburgh 
 
 West: Boise, Idaho; Los Angeles; Orange County, Calif.; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco, Seattle. 
 
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– Uber says it's now making "house calls," at least for one day. The ride-sharing service says that after the success of last year's program, it is offering flu shots to people in 35 cities for $10 between 11am and 3pm on Thursday, Nov. 19, the Washington Post reports. The shot—technically free, as long as a $10 "wellness pack" is purchased—comes with a nurse, who will actually deliver up to 10 shots with the purchase of that single pack, meaning you and your co-workers can take care of business for the low, low cost of $1 each. Of course, there may be a tussle over who gets to keep the pack, which includes an UberHEALTH-branded water bottle and tote, tissues, hand sanitizer, and a lollipop. Those who select the UberHEALTH option via their app are asked to "select a suitable indoor location prior to UberHEALTH arriving," and the shot may be administered to those ages 4 and up. The nurses will be provided by a company called Passport Health, which will share the costs of the program with Uber and health data-mining firm Epidemico, reports the Chicago Tribune. It adds that 10,000 shots will be available; 2,000 vaccinations were given in just four cities by Uber last year. Instructions on how to take part, and a list of all the cities covered, can be found on Uber's "UberHealth" page. (Last month, Uber drivers delivered something soft and fuzzy to cuddle-craving users in 50 cities.)