Michelle Newmark has tried — and failed — a couple times to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine.
First, she was told she needed a prescription. Then she learned that her local CVS drugstore won't have shots for a couple more weeks. The Reston, Virginia, resident was considering a drive to Maryland to get vaccinated before a friend told her of a closer CVS that was booking appointments.
What was once a simple process has become “a whole different beast this year,” Newmark said.
“It’s very frustrating that I can’t get a vaccine that I feel should be widely available like it always has been in the past,” she said.
The debut of updated COVID-19 vaccines has gotten off to a clunky start in many states. Limits on who can get the shots and prescription requirements are confusing customers and leaving some people worried about whether they will get protection from the virus this fall.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has insisted that everyone who wants a shot still can get one after consulting with a doctor, but he also told a Senate committee hearing Thursday that this access “depends on the states.”
The situation is changing daily and varies by state. And it may take time for vaccine-seekers to understand how the system works now for them.
“We anticipate it will get to be a little bit more of a smooth road in the coming weeks,” said Brigid Groves, a vice president with the American Pharmacists Association.
In the meantime, challenges are cropping up, and some patients are hitting the road to get vaccinated.
Lee Yarosh made plans to drive about 30 miles from Ossining, New York, to a Fairfield, Connecticut, drugstore to get vaccinated because the 71-year-old retiree couldn't schedule a vaccine closer to home.
On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order allowing pharmacists to administer the vaccine to patients as young as 3. But Yarosh is keeping his Monday appointment in Connecticut because he needs the vaccination ahead of a trip to Europe.
Chris Stone said he tried about five times to book a COVID-19 shot appointment online at his usual drugstore, but he was only allowed to schedule a flu vaccination. The 69-year-old Richmond, Virginia, resident said he expects to get the shot from his doctor during a checkup next month. But he doesn’t want to wait that long.
“If they fiddle around too long … it’s going to be really hard to get the coverage you want during the winter season,” Stone said.
Most Americans get their COVID-19 vaccines at drugstores, and many seek shots in the late summer or early fall to get protection against any winter surges in cases.
Pharmacists in most states can administer updated vaccinations without a prescription thanks to approval of the shots from the Food and Drug Administration last week.
But several states are requiring prescriptions — which are normally not needed for vaccines — as they wait for a recommendation on the shots from a committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That committee won’t meet until later this month.
Some states, including Pennsylvania and New Mexico, were waiting for that recommendation before allowing pharmacists to give the vaccines. But they have since changed rules to let pharmacists start vaccinating sooner.
Before that, Pennsylvania drugstore owner Marc Ost said his store fielded more than 50 calls from customers asking about the COVID-19 shots. His pharmacists couldn't administer the shots until the state changed the rules on Wednesday.
“There’s been a lot of confusion as to what we can and can’t do and a lot unclear guidance,” said Ost, co-owner of Eric’s RX Shoppe in Horsham, outside Philadelphia.
As of Friday morning, CVS Health — the nation’s largest drugstore chain — said its pharmacists can provide vaccines without a prescription in 38 states. Prescriptions are required in 11 states plus Washington, D.C., but its pharmacists cannot give the shots in Nevada.
In some states where CVS runs in-store clinics, customers can get vaccinated there even if they can't get a shot at the store pharmacy counter, spokesperson Amy Thibault said. She noted that the pharmacies and clinics are governed by different regulators.
New limits on who can get a vaccine also are raising questions among customers. Previously in the U.S., the vaccines were recommended for people ages 6 months and older.
But the recent FDA approval limits the shots for people age 65 and older and those younger who have a health condition that makes them high-risk for a serious case of COVID-19.
Doctors and pharmacists say they still expect many people to qualify for the shots because the list of conditions that would make someone high-risk is long. It includes ex-smokers and people who are physically inactive.
And pharmacists will mostly rely on the patient’s word that they have a condition that makes them eligible for a shot.
Even so, the fact that there are now limitations worries Jen Spector.
The 57-year-old Doylestown, Pennsylvania, resident should easily qualify for a shot because she has diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and some other medical conditions. Still, Spector says she’s nervous that someone will turn her down when she tries to get vaccinated.
“If I get sick, it could take my body a year to heal from all this,” she said. “My immune system is crap.”
___
Associated Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre contributed from Albany, New York.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Tom Murphy, The Associated Press
