Fort Campbell, KY – Blanchfield Army Community Hospital’s (BACH) patient care teams are slated to begin providing flu vaccines to families within the Patient-Centered Medical Homes the middle of October, offering the vaccine at multiple Fort Campbell locations again this year.
“By offering the influenza vaccine in multiple venues, we hope to make it easily accessible to individuals who do not want to make a doctor’s appointment off post or may just be putting off getting the vaccine. We hope our eligible population takes advantage of this free, but extremely beneficial benefit,” said chief of BACH Preventive Medicine Maj. John Downs.
Once additional vaccine shipments arrive, patients enrolled to any of the BACH medical homes, including Air Assault, Young Eagle, Gold, Byrd Combined Soldier and Family, LaPointe Soldier, Aviation, and Screaming Eagle Medical Homes, will be able to receive the vaccine during scheduled appointments.
Patients assigned to BACH may also receive the vaccine without an appointment during walk-in hours within their assigned medical home.
BACH’s preventive medicine team scheduled six public influenza vaccine events again this year – available to all TRICARE beneficiaries six months or older, including Soldiers, Retirees and Family members with a military ID card. The following events begin in late September and end in late October.
- Retiree Fair at the Soldier Readiness Center (former Commissary): 1:00pm to 5:00pm, Saturday, September 24th
- Town Center Pharmacy: 9:00am to 3:30pm Tuesday, October 11th
- Commissary: 9:00am to 3:30pm Saturday, October 15th and Friday, October 28th
- Post Exchange: 9:00am to 3:30pm Tuesday, October 18th and Tuesday, October 25th
“We encourage everyone to take advantage of receiving the vaccine as early as they can; however, for individuals to receive the most protection, it is recommended that this region receives the vaccine between October and December,” Downs said.
In addition, BACH’s Preventive Medicine team will work with staff throughout Fort Campbell Schools to offer the vaccine to Department of Defense Education Activity eligible school-age students the week of November 14th to 18th, during school hours. Information will be distributed to parents about each school’s specific dates and times as the event draws closer. Permission slips will be distributed by each school approximately one week before the planned vaccination day.
Patients Assigned to Providers Outside of BACH Patients assigned to a network primary care provider (off post) who choose not to attend one of the community outreach flu campaign events, should ask to receive the flu vaccine from their assigned primary care manager (PCM). If their assigned healthcare provider does not offer the flu vaccine as a TRICARE-covered benefit, patients may receive the influenza vaccine with no copayment at participating retail network pharmacies.
To find a participating pharmacy, visit www.express-scripts.com/TRICARE/pharmacy, or call 1.877.363.1303, option 4.
Flu seasons are unpredictable and have the potential to impact Department of Defense force readiness and mission. In the United States, influenza results in more than 40 million reported cases, more than 750,000 hospitalizations due to serious complications, and up to 50,000 deaths annually.
Vaccination is the primary method for preventing influenza and its complications. Special efforts should be made to vaccinate those at high risk from influenza complications to include pregnant women, children under five years of age, adults 65 years and older and those with certain medical conditions.
On June 22nd, 2016, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended not using intranasal influenza vaccine (LAIV4/Flumist); therefore, the DoD will not be using the intranasal spray vaccine this year.
As a standard safety precaution, people can also avoid getting or spreading the flu virus by washing their hands regularly and covering their cough or sneeze with a tissue or their sleeve, instead of into their hands.
