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Flu Vaccination $14.99 for Unfunded Groups @ Costco Westgate (Membership Required, No Appointment Required)

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Cheapest price I have seen for unfunded groups. Was no wait time for us today. Vaccine for my age group was AFLURIA QUAD 2023. (all the Influenza vaccines in NZ relate to the same 4 strains)

https://assets.website-files.com/61f35aaad08e65b4f5a55423/63…

Bargain Chemist is $21.99
Chemist Warehouse is $21.99
Life Pharmacy is $30 (based on St Lukes)

Note many groups qualify for a free flu vaccine:

  • children aged 6 months to 12 years old
  • pregnant people
  • Māori and Pacific people over 55
  • people aged 65 and over
  • people with underlying health conditions including heart disease, cancer, diabetes and serious asthma
  • people with significant mental illness such as schizophrenia or those currently accessing mental health services

Related Stores

Costco New Zealand
Costco New Zealand

closed Comments

    • -1

      What?

      • -1

        What?

          • +1

            @kiakaha: Thanks, that really clarifies it. Cheers.

          • @kiakaha: Can enjoy your home if stuck in your home

        • They wouldn't get the flu vaccination even if someone paid their mortgage off.
          Edit: didn't realise you were saying 'what?' because you were shocked lol

  • Is southern cross offering members free flu jabs again this year?

    They were last year, but I missed out on them.

    • I haven't seen anything, but if you have the keeping well add-on they are always covered

    • +7

      No. All these kind of things are best effort.

      The 2022-2023 northern hemisphere influenza was 54% effective for preventing medically attended influenza A infection among people aged 65 or less. This is a different formulation, but the number gives some idea of what is typical.

      https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7208a1.htm

      Far from perfect, but heaps better than nothing.

      Should note that the vaccine only targets the following strains
      • A/Sydney/5/2021 (H1N1) pdm09-like virus
      • A/Darwin/9/2021 (H3N2)-like virus
      • B/Austria/1359417/2021-like virus
      • B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus

      And of course, it only provides protection from Influenza, not the common cold, which is much milder, but people often confuse with Influenza.

      • Yep it's insurance should you happen to get influenza specifically that winter.

  • +10

    Of all places to run into this anti-vax crap… Disappointing, I don't recall ever encountering it on here before

      • -1

        Presumably and we understand the unique situation.

        This deal however is for a low price option for the seasonal flu vaccine, so not related to covid.
        The flu vaccine has been in place for many years, just as the Tetanus, Hepatitis, Typhoid, Diphtheria, Rabies etc vaccines have.

      • +3

        hey who cares aye if people do say you are antivax,its yo body u should descide for yoself wether u want the shot or not

        • You can, this is entirely optional, as is the current Covid booster. You're shouting at a cloud now, there is no longer an argument to be made, which is what makes comments like these so odd.

      • +2

        Do you go round on internet message boards trying to convince/scare people into not getting vaccinated? Then yes, you're antivax.

        • -3

          is there something wrong with being antivax? some think its a badge of honour

          • @ggallin: No, unfortunately in order for the Dunning Kruger effect to exist, there is always going to be some people who think they know better than the experts.

      • Is that the medical prognosis?
        or was it an event that would have happened regardless? some context require prior to making comment like that online

    • +11

      It's odd.

      If somebody doesn't want this vaccine, then they can simply not get it. Other than missing out on its protection there are no other consequences…

      If they do want it, this is the cheapest price I have seen, basically the core point of this website.

      • Agree. Thanks for posting!

      • Yeah, I can see some people got heated with the covid vaccines, but this is 100% totally optional (as was the covid one technically).
        Anyway, if this vaccine isn't for you, no worries, move on.

        Thanks for sharing it. This is a deal, and thats what this site is for.

      • quite a good deal for those that cant get it subsidised from their work. i paid $35 at life pharmacy but was able to claim it back.

        agree, dont understand all the antivax comments. for a start this is a totally different vaccine to covid, its been around for years and years now.

      • Exactly. When did people forget that literally all medication is a risk vs benefit trade off? Even Panadol in rare cases can have serious side effects. I'll take a zero point almost nothing percent chance of a vaccine side effect vs the significantly higher chance of complications from the virus itself. Sigh. Idiots.

          • @ggallin: You do know the concepts of how vaccines work right?

            Statistically the Covid ones are safe and effective for the majority of recipients, and the flu vaccination in this deal has been in use for many many years.

            Yes there will be side effects, there is to everything.

            Suggest taking the need for conspiracies etc back to closed facebook echo chamber groups.

              • +2

                @ggallin: In case you haven't noticed this is a vaccine for Influenza any comments regarding the Covid vaccines are a moot point.
                If you're considering getting the Influenza vaccine then the data sheet for the AFLURIA QUAD 2023 listed in the original post is below.
                https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/a/Afluriainj.pdf
                This should allow you to make an informed choice with regards to the pros & cons.

              • +4

                @ggallin: With all medicines, there is a risk of side effects

                Information on side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine has been available from release, and gets updated as we get more data. When I got the vaccines, I both got a paper flyer covering side effects, and the vaccination talked through them with me before getting my consent to proceed with the vaccination.

                The ministry of health's current summary of the pfizer covid-19 vaccines side effects are here.

                https://www.health.govt.nz/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-…

                And below is the data sheet, Undesirable effects covered in section 4.8:

                https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/c/comirnatyinj.p…

                With regards to the "safe and effective" comment. I interpret this as meaning the vaccine has a acceptable safety profile and reasonable effectiveness. Not that it is the holy grail and the perfect medicine (no side effects, 100% effective).

                Anybody who is harmed by any medication in NZ, is able to get help via the hospital system, and if deemed in Injory from ACC.

                Claiming side effects to a vaccine doesn't make you an antivaxer. But complaining about the Covid-19 vaccine on a listing about low cost Influenza vaccines does to me. The Afluria Quad 2023 vaccine is a completely different, made by different people, using different technology, and protecting against a different illness.

                With regards to the Afluria Quad vaccine, as per the other commenter, the data sheet is available.

                https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/a/Afluriainj.pdf

                Undesirable effects are covered in section 4.8.

      • I disagree with

        there are no other consequences…

        Being unvaccinated has other consequence that makes you purely selfish.
        You are less protected, meaning more disease carriers to transmit to others. This is especially bad because there are babies/infants, the elderly and immune-compromised people who cannot get vaccinated. These are the people who will get severely sick as a consequence of someone healthy and able to get the vaccine.
        Herd immunity is a certain percentage of people required to be immune to eradicate the disease (as there are few people to be infected). We need healthy people to get the vaccine to protect the most vulnerable.

        • With the flu vaccine, we are way off the level of protection that would be required for herd immunity.

          This is not like measles where we are skirting the herd immunity threshold.

          Personally, my decision to get vaccinated against influenza is based purely on selfish reasons.

          • @scott: which is ?

            • @Joe: Individual protection from some Influenza strains.

  • The government have significantly expanded funding to reach vulnerable groups. On top of that most employers offer free vaccination.
    If you aren't eligible for free vaccination chances are you don't need it.
    On top of that the success of the flu vaccine is about 40 to 60% on an already very low chance of you getting the flu in the first place.
    This is cheapies, if employer didn't offer it for free I for one will never pay for it.

    • -1

      success of the flu vaccine is about 40 to 60% on an already very low chance of you getting the flu in the first place.
      Source ?

      • Literally first option when you google it
        on the 40 to 60%
        https://www.healthline.com/health-news/cdc-says-flu-shot-was…

        on the low chance of getting flu in the first place - approx 25%
        https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/health-a-z/i/influenza/

        Now this is all population. If you take out the vulnerable population where Funding effectively makes the vaccination free this drops way more.

        • cheers fro that

          The bottom line

          The 2022-23 flu season is relatively on par with previous years. The main difference has been that the 2022-23 season peaked earlier and was also confounded with increased cases of RSV. Regardless, medical experts agree that the best way to protect yourself and loved ones against the flu is to get vaccinated.

    • And I for one did.

      Sure, being in outside the funded groups means a low chance I will end up in the hospital with Influenza regardless.

      But for $15, for me is well worth reducing the odds of needing to spend a few days in bed.

      I completely respect that you have come to a different decision to me.

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