News & Politics

Uber Will Deliver Flu Shots Thursday. Yes, Really.

It's Uber, but with needles.

Photograph via Shutterstock.

Not content with disrupting taxis, ice cream, child seats, Christmas trees, kittens, and José Andrés, Uber now wants to upend the immunization process. In a press release, Uber says its customers in Washington (along with New York and Boston) can order up a flu-shot clinic today to receive a registered nurse ready to deliver as many as ten free flu shots.

The nurses providing the vaccines work for Passport Health, a national chain of immunization and vaccine clinics. Uber is also partnering with Pager, a company founded by a former Uber developer that offers phone consultations and house calls from physicians.

The one-day stunt runs until 3 PM, and Uber expects demand to be pretty high. Honestly, if you asked us what Uber would try to shoehorn in on next, we would not have guessed seasonal medicine, but what an opportunity to go Galt on your employer-provided flu-shot session.

Find Benjamin Freed on Twitter at @brfreed.

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.