Google unveils flu vaccine finder site

Google has launched a Web site, www.google.com/flushot, to help people locate the locations nearest to them at which H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines are available.

Users can input a zip code or city name and then are provided with a map on which blue syringes indicate the locations of H1N1 vaccines, red syringes indicate the location of seasonal flu vaccines, and blue-and-red syringes indicate the location of both.

According to Google’s blog, the tool was developed in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services and the American Lung Association, and will be available on their Web sites, too. Google also is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bloggers Roni Zeiger, MD, product manager, and Jennifer Haroon, product marketing manager, noted that the site does not contain information from all clinics and that many clinics listed may not have vaccines in stock. Therefore, they wrote, people using the site should call the clinics listed to make sure vaccine is available.