Its likely the person used their Part B and their supplemental to cover the shingrix cost/
Last we checked, our BCBS PPO is like #Thumper1’s - will only pay if administered by what they define as a “healthcare professional”.
Some Medicare advantage plans have RX as part of the plan. Ours is separate…through Express Scripts. Express scripts does not cover Shingrix at all. And MA PPO we have does not cover it as a Part B claim either.
I have gotten vaccines (not Shingrix yet) at pharmacies in California while on California employer PPO plans (not BC or BS) that paid in full for them.
The limitations to a physician etc. must be plan specific.
Our CVS says they got 30 doses of the Shingrix vaccine yesterday, but they were gone in a couple hours. They don’t know when shipments will come in, and they don’t want to do a waiting list.
^^keep calling around to other Pharmacies. You may have to get on a bunch of WL’s and hope one comes in.
We got a call last night at a Pharm that I never expected to maintain a WL, but they did so we were able to get #2.
We had our vaccines administered by the pharmacist for BCBS PPO. It was 100% covered for me and my H and folks. I’m not on Medicare but they are (different plans). Our health plans have never cared who administered our vaccines.
This may be a stupid question, but are dose #1 and dose #2 of the vaccine the same thing, or are they different? I am waiting until after the first of the year to try to get my first dose because we will be in London at Christmas and I didn’t want any severe reactions.
Also, do you usually get the second vaccine at the same place as the first, or can you get it anywhere.
^^I asked that question yesterday. The pharmacist told me that both does are the same. You can get them anywhere that you can find them, unless your insurer has a restriction on where you can pickup vaccines.
@bluebayou Thank you for the quick response. I hope it is more available after the first of the year.
I got the vaccine at my doctor’s office - dose #1 in July, made the appointment for dose #2 and got it last week. I asked the same question and the nurse told me both doses are the same. Due to the shortage, the doctor’s office would give vaccine priority to people who need #2 dose as it should be administered within 6 months.
Thank you for this timely thread! My husband just called me from the doctor’s office. They were offering him Shingrix vaccine and he wanted to know if he should get it. He’s going away later today for a “boys” weekend. I told him that yes, he should get the shot, but NOT today. I don’t want it to ruin his weekend.
Stopped in at Kroger’s today and I put DH’s and my name on the list for the vaccines. We are about #30. I was told that they get about 10 or so of the doses in each order. It will be about 6 weeks or so before we can get it, which is fine by me.
I received my first dose in July and am on a waiting list for my second dose. There are about three dozen people ahead of me as of today and our pharmacy only received two doses this week. Two weeks ago they got 10 doses, so the pharm. tech. said to not give up hope that I may get my second dose in January. I called other pharmacies within 10 miles and most don’t expect to receive any more of the vaccine until January or February, so they’re not taking new names for their waiting lists.
^^keep calling around and get your name on Wait Lists. As you found, not all are taking new/any names, but you never know when you might get lucky.
I had to call probably 20 places, its a PIA, but it worked out for us.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some uniformity? Good grief. We, too, have BCBS. Shingrix must be administered at doctor’s office to be fully covered (flu shot anyone/anywhere). Husband just got a call from doctor’s office yesterday – second shot next Thursday.
I am hoping these waiting lists are fairly fluid – elderly parents still need second dose.
Lots of valuable/concrete information on this thread; yes, I used some posters’ words to “encourage” my husband to get second dose.
Still hoping good health for those affected by/battling shingles.
You’ll never have uniformity as long as we have a patchwork of many insurance companies providing health insurance in this country. This thread is a microcosm of the argument for migration to a single payer system in the long run.
And 50 states’ [insurance commissioners] which represent laboratories of democracy.
Disagree. The number of payers does not dictate worldwide manufacturing volumes or distributions channels. For example, the clinics/pharmacies in LA could be short while those in Chicago have an excess supply or vice versa.
That website linked earlier that purports to show availability, for my area it shows pharmacies that do carry it, but not necessarily ones that have it in stock.
I finally have my answer about why the supply hasn’t been accelerated to match demand. The vaccine takes 6-9 months for production and GSK didn’t anticipate the significant demand. Excellent summary of all things Shingrix in this little article from NPR station WBUR. Hopefully, this thread will fade from its popularity in the Cafe by summer as we are all able to locate the vaccine.
https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2018/12/07/shingles-vaccine-shortage-shingrix?fbclid=IwAR2lMS8osC8gkIVvFH1khvW8th-Jh5GMzzy75hrENwIYbDDGoJ5XzBl2D2k