Uber Delivering Flu Shots In Boston Area Thursday
BOSTON (CBS) -- If you've been putting off your flu shot this season because you haven't had time to visit a clinic or drug store, Uber might have a solution for you.
The ride share service will be delivering flu shots--as well as a nurse to administer them--for users of their app in Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, and Somerville on Thursday. For $10, users can request a nurse to their location and have up to ten people immunized.
"Our idea really was, well, if it's so hard to get people to vaccines, why not bring vaccines to people?" said Professor John Brownstein, a researcher of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital and adviser for the program.
Brownstein, who also teaches at Harvard Medical School, led a research group last year that used UberHEALTH to deliver over 2,000 flu shots to people in New York, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco.
"Doing a survey post the event, we saw that there was an overwhelmingly positive response to the idea of on demand, and that people that would not have gotten their flu shot otherwise got it because it was so convenient," said Brownstein.
The service will be available Thursday through the Uber app by selecting UberHEALTH between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports