Kaiser Permanente Southern California Sets Guinness World Record for Administering Most Flu Vaccinations

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kaiser Permanente’s seasonal flu clinics set The Guinness World Records today with 47,259 vaccinations given in an eight hour period at multiple sites throughout Southern California. Averaging the tally, that’s almost 100 arms a minute being offered to receive protection from influenza.

More than 600 Kaiser Permanente nurses and medical staff administrated vaccines to members at 48 Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout the Southern California region today, and having reached 20,000 vaccinations by 2 pm, easily surpassed the previous record of 12,851 set by Vanderbilt University. A real time tote board tracked the progress throughout the day and was confirmed by a Guinness World Records adjudicator.

This year’s flu vaccine will protect against three strains of influenza, including the 2009 H1N1 strain, plus a different H3N2 and B strain. The flu shot is recommended for all individuals ages 6 months and older, but certain groups are at higher risk of developing complications from the flu and are highly encouraged to get immunized, including young children, pregnant women, people 65 years and older, or anyone with heart or lung disease or chronic health conditions like asthma or diabetes.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, each year approximately 5 to 20 percent of U.S. residents get the flu and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized for flu-related complications.

Kaiser Permanente members in Orange County are encouraged to visit the Drive-Thru Flu Clinic tomorrow, Sunday, September 30, at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

Kaiser Permanente San Diego's clinics confirmed a total of 12,085 vaccinations, exceeding their previous record set in 2010 of 6,215 in one flu clinic day.

The Guinness World Records plaque presentation for the Kaiser Permanente Southern California regional record took place this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at the Vandever Medical Office Building, 4405 Vandever Avenue, San Diego, CA 92120.

Seasonal flu clinics are free of charge to Kaiser Permanente members. For a complete list of clinic locations and times, and for more information about preventing or treating the flu, visit www.kp.org/flu.

Pictures and interviews for each medical center areas are available upon request by contacting Mayra Suarez, cell 310-710-8479.

About Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 3.5 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.