Americans Not Eligible For Covid Booster Getting It Anyway, No Questions Asked In Pharm, Doc Offices

[appalachiablue]

- Business Insider, Sept. 30, 2021. Americans who aren't eligible for a COVID-19 booster are getting the shot no questions asked in pharmacies and doctors' offices.

Americans who aren't eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot are getting it without showing proof of eligibility in pharmacies and doctors' offices, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Patients seeking a booster shot told the Journal that pharmacies weren't looking for confirmation of eligibility, or without any questions asked from either the pharmacist or the online scheduling tools. Debbie Hirsch, a 67-year-old retired teacher, told the Journal she was given a third Moderna shot at a CVS in New York by a pharmacist who didn't ask her any eligibility questions.

She listed herself as immunocompromised on the CVS website when she signed up, even though she doesn't actually qualify, the report said.

Lauch Hines, a 75-year-old retirement adviser in South Carolina, claimed local pharmacies said to just show up with her vaccine card, the Journal reported. And Michele Cozadd, a 46-year-old former technologist from Ohio, told the Journal she was given her booster shot without any questions from her pharmacist. She said the scheduling app didn't ask her if she was at risk or had a pre-existing condition, the report said.

"Some of the demand we're seeing for boosters is the shadow of policies we've had before that failed to mitigate the spread of Covid," Neil Sehgal, a professor of health policy at the University of Maryland, told the Journal. "Thousands of people are still dying each day. "We're not out of the woods yet," he added.

Despite more than a month of messy debate around boosters, most adults in the US who got the Pfizer vaccine are eligible to get an extra shot, Insider previously reported. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Food and Drug Administration recommended the booster shot for qualifying groups. But only those with select medical conditions like immunodeficiency or a recent organ transplant can get a booster of the Moderna shot.

President Joe Biden on Friday said about 60 million Americans are eligible for a booster shot, or they will be soon. ~

https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-not-eligible-for-covid-19-booster-getting-it-anyways-2021-9
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- Eligibility CHART (end of article):
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/gov-hogan-encourages-people-to-get-covid-booster-shot-despite-confusion/ar-AAP0I9n

[GPV]

1. I'm waiting for data to prove that a Moderna follow-up to my J&J is the way to go.

[Ocelot II]

2. They did at my Walgreens. They wanted to see both my CDC card

showing that my last shot was at least 6 months ago, and my drivers' license to check my age.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

4. Me too.

I was off by a week or two for my 6 months and they turned me away.
Also, people over 65 can get the booster for their age, can’t they? How do those people quotes not qualify?
On edit: my CVS wouldn’t let me schedule online because it wasn’t six months yet, even though I tried to schedule out far enough.

[appalachiablue]

8. Check out 'Eligibility Chart' in Link added above. I don't

think 65 year olds can get the booster w/o the 6 month wait, the way I read it.

[Hoyt]

7. Same here at CVS.

[appalachiablue]

14. That's the way it's supposed to be done according

to the eligibility chart in the link about Md. Gov. Hogan added to the OP above.

Also per the CDC rules I posted in a comment below. I'm absolutely in favor of boosters, it's just the inconsistences that are confusing.

Until reading this Bus. Insider article, I assumed I had to wait 6 months after the vaccine series to be eligible for a booster, but perhaps not.

[Srkdqltr]

3. Wouldn't look good if they turned anyone away. Not that they would want too at this point.

The more who get it the better.

[Croney]

5. I booked CVS online and had to answer qualifying questions.

I don't think I could have booked if I wasn't over 65 with proof of my first two shots.

[appalachiablue]

15. That's how I understood it was to work, but not so in some

cases apparently. I've read through various articles and govt. guidelines because I was beginning to think that being 65 alone qualified you- without the 6 months wait from articles and comments I've seen.

[brewens]

6. I might send my doc a message saying I can be there in minutes if a shot is available.

I'm not eligible yet, but if he says I'm not cutting anyone else out, I'm out the door.

[marybourg]

9. Debbie Hirsch lied and said she was immunocompromised.

Launch Hines is 75. What is this article trying to prove?

[Skittles]

10. I thought people 65 and older were eligible?

jeez

[marybourg]

11. They are. And people who claim they're immunocompromised are also

So what’s the story about?

[Skittles]

12. not sure

it just.....adds to the confusion

[appalachiablue]

13. Eligibility starts with completed vaccination 6 mos. or more

as noted by the CDC. This should have been mentioned in the article, it's unknown if all of these patients were clear on the first step unless they showed their vax card that has the dates. It doesn't say for most. One lied about an underlying condition.

The article points out the obvious- the confusing rules and uneven criteria for administering booster shots at pharmacies and doctor offices.
___________
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html

- CDC: Who Is Eligible for a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shot? Updated Sept. 30, 2021

What You Need to Know

> COVID-19 Vaccine booster shots are available for the following Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recipients who completed their initial series at least 6 months ago and are:

65 years and older
Age 18+ who live in long-term care settings
Age 18+ who have underlying medical conditions
Age 18+ who work in high-risk settings
Age 18+ who live in high-risk settings