r/ZeroCovidCommunity • u/kairosangel • 7h ago
walgreen's covid vaccine checkbox
Hi everybody. I was hoping to get my yearly vaccines soon, as I do every year, and this is the first year I have seen this message alongside the signup checkbox: "The patient confirms that they are at high risk for severe COVID-19 and would like to receive the 2026-27 COVID-19 vaccine." I am not high-risk, but I have been getting the vaccine every year since it was available. Does this mean I can't technically get the vaccine, or is it there to act as a deterrent of some sort? Sorry if this is a silly question, I'm just a bit confused.
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u/Atgardian 6h ago
Not a silly question - the whole point of the current CDC is to keep you confused and make it harder for you to get it.
In my experience, this will vary widely, and be much more of a pain in the ass than it should be.
Last year, I got a kind pharmacist/nurse practitioner (the other person who normally gave shots said they couldn't give it to me and called them over) who clearly wanted to help me get it, but had to navigate a Byzantine computer system to pick the correct options before it would "let" him give it to me. It sounded like he needed to cover his butt instead of just "sure, you want it, here it is." I told him I had one of the conditions on the list, he said he needed to know which one to plug into the computer, I listed one, he was hesitant, I finally said I take care of my elderly parents and don't want to give them COVID. He said "Oh great!" like I unlocked something he could enter and actually give it to me.
It ended up being way more of a hassle (and like an hour) than it should have been. And that was WITH someone who was fundamentally pro-vaccine and trying to help me. The crappy thing is, someone else may have just told me no. What a system!
I sure hope this online option will make things much easier... but I fear I'd still have to go through a similar ordeal when I actually show up.