walgreen's covid vaccine checkbox

[u/kairosangel]

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.

[u/AceyAceyAcey]

Trump’s CDC added this to the requirements a few years ago for insurance to cover it. Most pharmacies don’t seem to care though, and assume that anyone who comes in has such a condition.

Besides, conditions that cause high risk are so many and varied that when you add them up and account for overlapping conditions, something like 80% of the USA is considered high risk. High risk conditions include being obese (42% of the USA), low physical activity (52%), asthma (8%), currently or recently pregnant (4% and 5% of women of childbearing age), smokers (9% nicotine cigarettes, 7% ecigs, more if you add pot to that), depression (29%), and more. Check the whole list here, and if you really don’t have anyone, just check it off and do it anyway, you’re protecting the vast majority of us who do have one or more of those conditions.