I agree. H and I both got our boosters at Walgreens and I have an appointment set up for my son at CVS for when he comes home from college for winter break, but it seems it’s getting harder every day as cases ramp up and more people become eligible.
Great! My younger turns 16 in a month.
It was the same in NY for the original shots. The state site was useless. I got a shot much more quickly by going straight to the pharmacy sites.
I live in southeastern Michigan. My county has vaccine/booster clinics, the hospitals have appointments for patients in their system, the pharmacies have appointments … it’s much easier to schedule a vaccine appointment now than it was last spring. I tried scheduling just as boosters for all adults were approved. Most places were scheduling a couple weeks out. I found a Kroger pharmacy with an appointment three days out. It wasn’t too far away, and I was very happy to get boosted so quickly.
just checked the cvs site for our local area (SoCal), and plenty of nearby appointments were available starting onTuesday…
I was able to schedule our boosters two weeks out but at a local pharmacy chain within an easy walk from our house (greater Seattle area). The state vaccine locator site is just as useless as it was last spring. Most places that show available times on the locator have none on their actual sites. Fingers crossed that the place I picked actually has vaccines on the day of the appointments.
I just checked our local mom & pop pharmacy where H and I got ours. Oodles and oodles of appts spaced 10 minutes apart with few gaps from next Monday - Friday.
If anyone wants to do vaccine tourism to central PA, feel free to send me a PM. It’s about an hour and a half drive from BWI and maybe an hour from the airport (MDT) or train station in Harrisburg though. You might be able to find something closer to mass transit if you look.
For those having difficulty finding boosters, does the type of vaccine matter in how difficult it is to find a booster?
Out of curiosity, I went onto CVS pretending that I was born in 1970 and looking for boosters. There were only one or two stores in greater San Diego showing appointments until December 20, when a ton of appointments opened up, including the CVS half a mile away (where I got my booster). This was true for both Pfizer and Moderna.
So if you want to do vaccine tourism, we are ready out on the west coast!
Undercover booster boss?
I had a lot of practice pretending to be my son in Seattle.
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I did too in the first wave of vaccinations. I was all kinds of people! For boosters, not really because they are everywhere here.
H and I got boosters Thursday evening. We both got our second shots early April (Moderna). H had Covid in August - mild symptoms, exposed/infected at work. We had no problem getting appointments (SE Florida) and chose to get boosted with Pfizer. Happy to report virtually no side effects - slight soreness at injection site but less than 2nd shot. Hoping we are now past the window for reactions so figured I’d post. Super easy to schedule appointments here.
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I’ve found that CVS has two ways of getting the shots. One given by the pharmacy and one from the Minute Clinic. I tried scheduling my booster through the regular site and openings weren’t available for 5-6 days. When I used the Minute Clinic site, I was able to schedule for the same day. The CVS I went to last night was giving shots from both pharmacy and The Minute Clinic.
I had 2 Pfizer shot previously and received the Moderna one last night. Very slight side effects (just feel a bit off) and a sore shot site.
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Same here – primary series Moderna, and chose to get Pfizer for booster. Very easy to get appt. at a state vaccination site.
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My husband looked and there was a lot more availability for the Moderna compared to the Pfizer, which is understandable since the Pfizer has to accommodate all the kids.
My husband and I got the Pfizer back in March and we got the Pfizer booster yesterday. My husband only reports a bit of a sore arm, I am running some fever, my armpit is sore on the shot arm, and I also have headache. Managing with Tylenol and plenty of naps.
My son and DIL got Pfizer boosters after Pfizer vaccine. Son just had pain in injection arm for two days. DIL has swollen noodle in armpit, runny nose and generally feels sick.
My D & SIL had appointments today at a Kroger pharmacy. Unfortunately, when they got there, they were told that the pharmacist had an emergency so was gone for the day. Back to square 1 to get an appointment. It’s harder to get an appointment now than it was when I got mine, because Covid is raging in our state.
Four of us in my family have now had the Pfizer booster (my older two will get theirs when they get home for Christmas). Dh had Moderna first round, S18 had J &J and D16 and I had Pfizer originally. Dh was tired and a little blah after his booster, S18 and I both had a sore arm but otherwise no side effects from the booster.
OTOH, poor D16, who got her booster on Saturday, has been suffering side effects. She woke up around 4am, about 12 hours post booster, terribly nauseated and then started vomiting a couple hours later. When she eventually woke up for the day, she had a fever and headache, and felt terrible all day. Tylenol helped but when it wore off, her fever was back around dinner time. When I went to bed, she still had a headache. She has a half day today so i told her last night she could just stay home and get some rest. She is not awake so not sure how she is feeling today. Timing is horrible as she has midterms starting tomorrow and planned to study all day yesterday.
When D16 had her 2nd shot of Pfizer, she was horribly sick, same exact symptoms, for two whole days. She missed two days of school and still felt crappy (but fever and nausea had subsided) on the third day. I was hoping she would escape the side effects this time but no such luck.