Alternative vaccination locations: who uses them and can they increase flu vaccination rates?

Since many unvaccinated individuals do not regularly contact the traditional health care system, we sought to determine the role that alternative vaccination locations (e.g., workplaces and retail clinics) could play in increasing influenza vaccination coverage. Between February 14, 2008 and March 10, 2008, a 25-question influenza vaccine questionnaire was administered to a nationally representative, stratified sample of panelists. Our results found that while alternative locations are covering some segments not captured by the traditional health care system (e.g., younger, working, white individuals in metropolitan areas), they are not serving many other segments (e.g., minority, rural, or lower income patients).