(ATLANTA) — After taking off shoes, pulling change out of pockets and going through security checkpoints, passengers now can roll up their sleeves and get a flu shot at gateside kiosks and health stations in some major U.S. airports.

Although health clinics at many U.S. airports have offered flu shots for years in public areas outside security checkpoints, officials found that few passengers want to risk missing their flights by getting vaccinated before clearing the checkpoints.

So this year, airports including those in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and Newark, N.J., are offering flu shots in "airside" areas — passenger concourses inside the checkpoints.

"It's helpful being on the airside because people ... don't know how long its going to take getting through security so they don't want to take a risk of waiting in a medical clinic or being stuck in security and not making their plane," said Maureen Zampella, director of nursing and general operations manager of Harmony Pharmacy & Health Center Inc. The company offers flu shots at its clinic in Terminal C of Newark Liberty International Airport.

It takes less than five minutes to get vaccinated at an airside flu shot clinic, says Dr. Dominic Mack, chief medical officer of The AeroClinic, which has two flu shot kiosks in Concourse C of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The cost ranges from $15 to $35, depending on the clinic. Shots are available to most flyers. Exceptions include people with allergies to chicken eggs and feathers or thimerosal, a preservative in flu shots and contact lens solution. Most of the gateside clinics are in domestic concourses, but clinic officials say they provide service to passengers who connect to other domestic and international flights.

"It's a viable option ... especially for business travelers. They don't have time to go to the physician," Mack said. "This offers another option for the population to get their flu shots."

But passengers taking the shots won't be protected right away. Those vaccinated develop some immunity to the flu virus after three or four days. It takes about two weeks for a flu shot to offer full protection.

Being vaccinated now offers plenty of time for the shot to fully take effect before the peak flu season begins in the U.S., typically after December, Zampella said.

Danny Manzon of Jacksonville, Fla. wanted to get a flu shot for three months but the busy restaurant consultant never had the time to get vaccinated. So he jumped at the chance to get one from a kiosk near his airline gate at the Atlanta airport.

"The convenience is great," Manzon, 53, said after getting a flu shot on Tuesday from The AeroClinic kiosk, located in front of an AirTran Airways gate in Concourse C.

Ultimately, airport health clinics may offer more than flu shots to busy passengers near gates. Health officials say they're considering other kiosk-based services in the future, including more vaccinations and tests for high blood pressure or cholesterol.

"We're finding that's where people are," said Michelle Smith, spokeswoman for Denver Health, which operates the Medical Clinic at DIA, or Denver International Airport. "Especially if you're in an airport where a large percentage of our travelers are there for connecting flights, you want to be able to offer that convenience."

The Atlanta airport clinic is considering offering pneumococcal vaccine once the flu season ends, based on requests from travelers approaching the kiosks. It also may offer blood pressure and cholesterol tests at the kiosks in the future, Mack said. The Denver clinic wants to offer similar services and may also address altitude sickness, Smith said.

Last year, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport offered about 5,000 flu shots to airport passengers and employees from kiosks next to gates.

"We didn't know if it was going to be successful. It went over great and we asked the (Chicago) Department of Aviation this year to do kiosks full-time" at O'Hare and Chicago Midway Airport, said Dr. John Zautcke, medical director for the University of Illinois Medical Center at O'Hare. "Business travelers love it. They are just thanking us."

Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, assistant professor of public health and medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, says the gate vaccination programs make sense as a public health measure.

"Anything that makes flu shots more accessible is a good thing," said Hupert, who has no connection to the flu shot clinics. "It's always helpful during normal times to try out new mechanisms (to distribute vaccine). This idea of offering vaccine in airports is actually an interesting and helpful step."

Group sounds alarm on infant formula cans

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Mothers sit propped against pillows and gym mats at the "Real Birth" baby clinic in New York City. It's a sea of unwashed hair, women of various ages and professions, complicit smiles and apologies for not looking more put together. The diverse women share a common drive: the desire to breast-feed their babies. They believe it's the best nutrition, but they have difficulty, for reasons ranging from low milk production to adopted babies to problems with some babies latching on.

Breast-feeding was my absolute first choice," says Helen Niblock, cradling her newborn and watching tentatively as she puts 5-week-old Emma on a scale. "I actually cried when they told me that I had to give her formula in the hospital."

Niblock gives Emma Enfamil from a can to supplement her diet. But a research group says the cans that contain the formula are lined with a toxic, potentially harmful chemical.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy and research organization, says in a new report released to CNN that liquid formula from the nation's top baby formula makers is sold in cans lined with bisphenol-A, or BPA. The formula makers acknowledge the presence of BPA, but say it is not harmful. The Food and Drug Administration agrees.

The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit research organization focused on public health and the environment. It does not take money from special interest groups. The group previously raised concerns about the presence of BPA in plastic baby bottles and is pushing for regulation of the compound.

The group says, based on its analysis of existing research on BPA, even a very small amount of the compound may cause a host of problems, from brain and behavioral disorders to cancer, a claim the formula makers and federal regulators adamantly deny.

"BPA is a chemical that is harmful at very low doses," says Jane Houlihan, the organization's vice president for research. "We're talking about millions of babies exposed every year to this toxic chemical that's found in infant formula."

BPA is a fairly ubiquitous chemical used in polycarbonate plastic products, including baby bottles and metal can coatings. It protects the food inside from the can.

It's legal. According to the FDA and the infant formula industry, which adheres to federal packaging guidelines, it is safe.

Formula maker Nestle USA says all U.S. formula companies use cans from suppliers who use bisphenol-A. "The FDA has found these materials to be safe, and to pose no risk whatsoever to consumers. We stand by our products in these type of cans as being safe," the company says.

"There are inherent risks in any material that could be considered for packaging," says Mead-Johnson, makers of Enfamil. "Babies are what we do and safety is of paramount importance. We don't consider there to be a risk."

Regulators say the trace amounts infants are exposed to won't hurt them.

While the FDA acknowledges it is actively reviewing safety data on BPA, it sees no reason to ban it or restrict its use in formula cans.

But safety data on BPA are a point of contention.

The National Toxicology Program's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction convened an expert panel to determine if BPA is a hazard to humans, including more sensitive developing babies. The panel concluded, based on animal studies, that there's "some risk" exposure to BPA causes neural and behavioral effects in children.

But there's a clear lack of scientific consensus on the definition of "some risk." Also at issue is the lack of research on humans.

"There's a lot of data out there, a lot of science that is looking at the effect of BPA in animals, but we don't have any data unfortunately in humans, so it makes it a little bit hard to know what's worrisome and what's not, " says Dr. Ari Brown, a member of the Academy of Pediatrics and author of the book "Baby 411."

The confusing messages have sent moms like Niblock into a tailspin.

"As a new mom there are so many warnings and scares out there you have to take it in stride and do what you think is best for your own child," she says.

But how do already stressed new parents know what is best?

While the American Academy of Pediatrics has no formal position on BPA, some of its member doctors, including Brown, are taking the message into their own hands.

While parents don't have definitive answers, they do have choices, including powdered formula or liquid formula not packaged in cans, and BPA-free baby bottles. Another BPA-free choice for mothers who can do it is exclusive breastfeeding -- the gold standard of infant nutrition.

The formula industry says there's no need for feeding changes for infants, as does the International Formula Council.

Niblock isn't so sure.

"I would do anything in the world to make sure she's growing the right way, and that I'm doing what's healthiest for my baby," she says.