Where Can I Get the COVID-19 Vaccine?

Where Can I Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 vaccine will help keep you from getting COVID-19

• All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have been shown to be highly effective at preventing COVID-19. Learn more about the different COVID-19 vaccines.
• All COVID-19 vaccines that are in development are being carefully evaluated in clinical trials and will be authorized or approved only if they make it substantially less likely you’ll get COVID-19. Learn more about how federal partners are ensuring COVID-19 vaccines work.
• Based on what we know about vaccines for other diseases and early data from clinical trials, experts believe that getting a COVID-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19.
• Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, particularly people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
• Experts continue to conduct more studies about the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on severity of illness from COVID-19, as well as its ability to keep people from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.

Where Can I Get the COVID-19 Vaccine
Key takeaways:

• CVS and Walgreens are administering the first two COVID-19 vaccines at long-term care facilities.
• Healthcare facilities are ramping up vaccination clinics for their workers during this first phase when vaccine supplies are still scarce.
• Many pharmacies are planning to make the vaccine available to the public once supplies increase and high-priority groups receive their vaccines first.

Healthcare workers and long-term care residents and staff are preparing for an unprecedented event: the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the federal government’s campaign to speed up vaccine availability, is well underway. The vaccine from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-BioNTech received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 11, and another vaccine from Moderna got approval a week later.

As we await emergency authorization of more vaccines to help alleviate limited initial supply, 60% of U.S. pharmacies are preparing to administer the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). An estimated 21 million healthcare workers and 3 million long-term care residents will be eligible for the first vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Retail pharmacies Walgreens and CVS are providing the first phase of vaccines at long-term care facilities. With cases surging higher than in the spring in some areas in the U.S. and deaths from COVID-19 surpassing 300,000, the vaccine can’t come too soon.

Here’s more information about where the vaccine will be available and who will be eligible for it first.

Where to get the COVID-19 vaccine

VaccineFinder.org is a platform that helps people find vaccine providers in their communities. When the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, VaccineFinder will require providers to report the number of vaccines they have in their inventory each day. Providers can also make their locations visible to the public when the vaccine becomes more widely available. 

For now, the vaccine will be available to a limited number of people through pharmacies and healthcare facilities. More information on each is below.
Where Can I Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

Pharmacies

From independent pharmacies to regional/national chains, drugstores and grocers across the country have partnered with HHS to make the vaccine available. They are starting by administering the vaccine to healthcare workers and residents and employees of long-term care facilities. (See below for all three phases of the vaccine’s initial roll-out.)

• Albertsons: Albertsons expects to have the vaccine at some locations for select populations when it first becomes available and then eventually at all locations.

• CVS: CVS stores will add the COVID-19 vaccine to its scheduling tool as soon as it’s available. The tool will require you to schedule both the first shot and the follow-up vaccine.

• H-E-B: Texas-based H-E-B is prepared to follow the CDC’s vaccine distribution schedule. 

• Hy-Vee: Hy-Vee plans on hiring 1,000 licensed pharmacy technicians for its 270 pharmacies. The new hires will provide vaccine support to its customers in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. 

• Rite Aid: All Rite Aid locations are staged and ready to administer the vaccine, according to the store’s website.

• Target: Target employees and customers will be able to get the vaccine at its in-store pharmacies once it’s made available to the public, according to Target’s website.

• Walgreens: Walgreens will support the government’s efforts to deliver vaccines to long-term care facilities. The company will also provide vaccines to consumers at all of its 9,000+ store locations. Visit Walgreens’ COVID-19 FAQs page for more information.

You’ll also be able to find the vaccine at:

• Costco
• Kroger
• Walmart
• Winn-Dixie

Healthcare facilities

Healthcare workers along with residents and employees of long-term care sites, arguably the most vulnerable populations, can expect to be first in line for the vaccine. Facilities that are ready for vaccinations include:

• Brookdale Senior Living: Plans are in place for vaccination clinics at Brookdale’s 700 communities for workers and residents in all levels of care including independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing.

• Banner Health: Banner Health is ready to distribute vaccines as of Dec. 14, Chief Clinical Officer Marjorie Bessel said. It has staff available to administer the shots first to its frontline workers and then to high-risk populations. Banner Health has facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming.

Who will get the vaccine first?

To be effective, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two shots about 3 to 4 weeks apart, respectively. The vaccines will be free, according to the HHS. Priority will be given to the following populations in three proposed phases initially:

1. Phase 1a:
   • Healthcare workers
   • Residents and employees of long-term care facilities
2. Phase 1b:
   • Educators
   • Food and agriculture workers
   • Utility employees
   • Police and firefighters
   • Corrections officers
   • Transportation workers
3. Phase 1c:
   • Adults with high-risk medical conditions
   • Adults over 65

Where Can I Get the COVID-19 Vaccine