Retailers offer incentives for customers to get flu shots

Sam's Club is offering a $5 in-club shopping credit for members vaccinated at a Sam’s Club pharmacy between Aug. 30 and Sept. 24, while Hy-Vee pharmacy is providing patients the ability to earn a 20-cent Hy-Vee Fuel Saver + Perks reward after vaccination.

Sandra Levy

9/1/2023

With cold and flu season on the horizon along with rising rates of COVID, medical experts are recommending that consumers begin protecting themselves with flu vaccinations in September. Retailers, including Sam's Club and Hy-Vee, are offering incentives to customers to do so.

Sam’s Club is creating value for shoppers who opt to protect themselves and their families from influenza this year by offering a $5 in-club shopping credit for members vaccinated at a Sam’s Club pharmacy between Aug. 30 and Sept. 24.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, preliminary estimates show that last season, people vaccinated against the flu were 40% to 70% less likely to be hospitalized because of flu illness or related complications, the company noted.

Flu shots at Sam’s Clubs are $0 copay with most insurance. Vaccines are available during regular pharmacy hours with no appointment needed, but members can schedule a flu shot by visiting online here. Vaccines are available to patients ages 3 years and up.

Sam’s Club’s pharmacists also can help recommend vaccines based on a member’s age and other health factors.

Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations are providing patients the ability to earn a 20-cent Hy-Vee Fuel Saver + Perks reward after vaccination.

The flu vaccine is now available inside its more than 275 Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations, with no appointment or prescription necessary throughout the company’s eight-state region.

Hy-Vee’s pharmacies make it easy for patients to receive their flu shot. With convenient hours and no appointment needed, patients can stop by their local pharmacy to receive a flu shot. For a quicker, more convenient experience, patients also can schedule their flu vaccination and complete their vaccine consent form in advance online.

Hy-Vee pharmacists will conduct a screening process prior to vaccination to ensure each individual is receiving the most beneficial flu vaccine for their health. Both regular- and high-dose flu vaccines are available at Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations. Medicare and most insurance plans cover the flu vaccine and other immunizations at no charge.

Currently, flu vaccines are available without a prescription during regular pharmacy hours to patients 6 months and older at Hy-Vee’s Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota locations; or 3 years and older in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin locations, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ PREP Act.

[Read more: Hy-Vee to debut reimagined store]

Hy-Vee also will be offering workplace vaccination clinics using its fleet of Hy-Vee Healthy You Mobiles and HyVee Health mobile trailers. Employers who wish to schedule an onsite clinic for their employees can email [email protected] for more details. Clinics are typically held September through November.

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