Struggling to get your COVID vaccine? Here's what to do.
Three years into the COVID pandemic the rollout of new vaccines heading into fall has been rough, with adults and children alike encountering canceled appointments or unexpected upfront costs. Here’s why — and what you can do about it.
Why people are having trouble getting a COVID vaccine
The end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency earlier this year means that the federal government is no longer buying and distributing vaccines for free, according to the Associated Press. That means pharmacies and doctors's offices have had to place their own orders — and sometimes cancel appointments if shipments didn't arrive in time.
Health insurance companies now cover the cost of COVID vaccines in most cases, but some have been slow to update their internal systems to reflect that the shots are covered — meaning some appointments have been canceled to prevent a hefty copay.
Vaccine manufacturers insist that shipment issues aren’t to blame, with Pfizer — one of the makers of three of the updated vaccines currently available — recently telling Yahoo Life, “Pfizer has substantial supply of its 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine and does not have any shortages. … Pfizer has shipped and delivered several million doses of its 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine. We’re continuing to fulfill orders and we anticipate delivering millions of additional doses each week.”
What you can do about it
If you want a COVID vaccine and are having trouble getting one, here’s what experts suggest.
Take precautions to reduce exposure. “As soon as people can get the shot, that’s ideal. But until that happens, just try to be as cautious as possible and as your life allows — especially if you’re at higher risk — to minimize the risk of infection until you can get a shot,” Bethany DiPrete, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, tells Yahoo Life. You can mitigate exposure for yourself and others by wearing a mask in crowded places such as trains or airplanes, opting for outdoor restaurants instead of dining indoors and staying home if you’re feeling sick. “All the same strategies we used before to avoid getting COVID still work now,” Emily Smith, an assistant professor at the George Washington Milken Institute School of Public Health, tells Yahoo Life. "So you might do a few of those extra things in the meantime while you're waiting to get that appointment or waiting for the vaccines to come to your pharmacy."
Look for appointments outside your immediate area. “I would suggest casting a wide net, if possible, perhaps looking for appointments at pharmacies or clinics other than the ones someone might normally go to in order to find one with availability,” DiPrete says.
Keep trying. Experts point out that we aren’t in totally uncharted territory. When COVID vaccines first became available toward the end of 2020, only certain individuals (such as health care workers and those who were considered high-risk) were eligible to receive one. It took a while for the shot to become easily accessible; in the meantime, all people could do was sit and wait their turn — which is what you may have to do in this instance too. “Unfortunately, it sounds like there's a little bit of a waiting game here,” Smith says. “But I would say don’t give up. It’s worth it.”
“Rollout of the new Omicron booster has been slower than anticipated, but it looks like supplies should be adequate and most clinics as well as pharmacy chains like Walgreen’s and CVS should have adequate supplies in the next two weeks,” Dr. Dean Winslow, a professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at Stanford Health Care, wrote to Yahoo Life in an email last week. “I am personally planning on getting my annual flu vaccine and COVID-19 Omicron booster at the same time in the next two weeks.”
