Jason Mitton wanted one of the new Covid-19 vaccines before departing for a business trip. However, a pharmacist at a drugstore near her home in Austin, Texas refused.
"He is like this: "Do you have a doctor's note?" I said: "No, I don't." He said: "I'm not.
At 55, he says high blood pressure and high cholesterol are controlled by medication, but plans to try vaccinating him.
"I think that's ridiculous," Mitton says. "I think it should be a person's right to get the vaccine or not, which is why I'm very angry."
The same applies to Cheryl Hughes, 64, who lives outside of Cleveland. She had planned to get another shot as soon as the updated version became available. But she is not qualified.
"I'm furious," says Hughes. "Who wants to get sick?"
For the first time, asking people to step into the pharmacy to receive the vaccine, leaving the Covid vaccine unavailable to anyone over six months old.
Large departures, Food and Drug Administration I only approved the shot For those at the highest risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid, they are at least 65 years old or have another health problem that makes them very vulnerable.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump administration health officials argue that the healthiest and youngest people don't necessarily need an annual booster because they have so much immunity.
However, many Americans who don't meet the new standards still want to be vaccinated to avoid getting sick or spreading the virus to vulnerable families.
And independent healthcare institutions like the American Infectious Diseases Association claim that. Everyone needs to have options Vaccines reduce the risk of serious complications, including hospitalization and death, and even healthy people get vaccinated to get vaccinated.
Hughes wants to stay healthy, so she can take care of her husband with dementia. She is his only caretaker.
"If my husband gets sick, he may have to go to a nursing home. He may lose his job. That would be terrible," says Hughes.
Secretary Kennedy has repeatedly argued that new rules will prevent anyone from getting vaccinated if everyone wants. However, many people say there is a problem with NPR.
As a general rule, you can still get vaccinated if you meet the criteria, have your doctor prescribe a shot, or tell your pharmacist that you meet the criteria and "self-prove it."
However, people can turn away because supply of reformulated shots has not yet arrived. Because sometimes they don't meet the new standards. Or they say they can take a shot if they first receive their prescription, but just be inexplicably rejected when they return on the doctor's order.
Some people explain that they hunt shots from pharmacies to pharmacies, doctors' offices, and doctors' offices.
Shot-making companies, Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax, did not say exactly how many doses they are administering this year, given the narrow FDA approval. However, Pfizer says it is preparing "similar volumes" just like last year, and is confident it will meet demand. They also say millions of doses have already been shipped.
Claire Hannan, Executive Director of the Vaccination Managers Associationshe says she doesn't think vaccine supply will be a problem. She says the pharmacy can order Covid shots and they have been shipped.
"I think it's difficult to access," she says. "But I think anyone who wants it can get it. But they'll have to work hard to find it."
However, some clinics and pharmacies have not yet received the supplies they ordered. And some doctors' offices and clinics, including pediatricians, may decide not to stock shots this year if they don't expect adequate demand.
If you're trying to find it, then Pfizer and Modern I have both Vaccine Finder Website Up and running.
One major obstacle is that pharmacists in some states are prohibited from managing shots until the Centers for Disease Control issues specific recommendations as to who should be vaccinated.
Over the past few years, these recommendations have come in the spring. But Kennedy Dismissal whole Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practicesan independent group that develops these recommendations and replaces members with their own advisors.
Kennedy's new committee will meet next week on the Covid vaccine and other issues. It could alleviate some issues, including reluctance that some pharmacists and doctors have due to changes in rules and confusion.
However, it remains unclear what the advisor will do. It was possible for people to get shots, making it easier or more difficult. Many New members of the committee Share Kennedy's anti-vaccine view.
In any case, shots, which are part of the children's vaccine program, will not be shipped until a committee meeting occurs, Hannan says. Approximately half of US children are eligible for the free vaccine through the program.
Health insurance coverage can also be tricky. Aetna and United Healthcare told NPR they will cover Covidshots without cost sharing, for those outside the narrower FDA approvals, as well as for those with fully insured plans. However, it is not clear what other insurers will do. And even those who have Aetna or United can have other kinds Of plans that don't cover the shot, the patient could be reverted to around $200.
In the meantime, many Americans have still been trying to find ways to get vaccinated.
"I'm very angry and frustrated," says Alison Court, 32, of Bristol, Connecticut.
Court wants to work out to protect his father with heart failure, other families with diabetes, and relatives who have recently had kidney transplants.
She is also concerned about her 16 month old son. Despite Covid being extremely dangerous to babies, he is not eligible for vaccination again this year. New shots are approved only for children with high-risk conditions.
In fact, this spring, CDC Recommendations removed The child and pregnant women are vaccinated on a daily basis. For children, agents recommend that parents talk to their doctor about vaccinating their children first.
"It's just really upsetting," Court says. "Why do you have to jump over the hoop to do this? That's kind of scary."
If she has to, the court says she might do what some people do: just say she is eligible. But she doesn't think it's great. And she doesn't know how to get a shot for a boy.
"It's hard to see this play and know that there are so many lives in danger, and my son's life could be at risk," Court said.
Stephen Niedenbach, 45, a teacher at a public school in Annapolis, Maryland, is also irritated and angry. He is worried about spreading the virus to students who are sick and have lung problems, older parents or stepmothers.
"If I got it, I would feel terrifying if I told it to someone I care about, that's scary. It's terrifying," says Nidenbach.
He also considers fi on eligibility to get a shot.
Therese McRae, 37, of Sandy, Utah, is also hoping to get vaccinated. Her main motivation is to protect her 4-year-old daughter who suffers from type 1 diabetes. This involves a risk of serious complications.
"It's hard enough to be a parent of a young child who has received a complicated medical diagnosis," says McRae. "The inability to get people around her to get vaccinated increases her risk. It's so overwhelming. It's scary."
Karen Runbey, 43, who lives near Richmond, Virginia, is desperately hoping for a vaccine as well. She says she became immunocompromised after developing a long covid. Her pharmacist told her she needed a prescription to get a shot, but she couldn't find a doctor to give it to her.
"All kinds of flu, Covid, will put me backwards a lot," Lambey says. "All of these are extra hurdles that I keep adding up. It's disappointing because it's important to my health."
And Lanbey's parents are also immune compromises. She is afraid to spread the virus to them. "It could potentially be life-threatening to them," she says. "I couldn't live with it."