Andrea Helms felt lucky to snag a COVID-19 vaccination appointment at a Walgreens store in Lakeview earlier this month — until it was time to get her shot.
She arrived at the store on time, filled out a form, and was taken to a room to receive her inoculation. The woman who was to give her the shot then took another look at her paperwork.
“She said: ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t give you the shot today. We’re only doing health care workers and over 65,'” recalled Helms, who had indicated she had a qualifying health condition when making her appointment online. Helms was caught off guard. She left the store, unvaccinated.
“It’s such a roller coaster,” said Helms, 47, of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. “Everyone is struggling in some way. It’s an added stress.”
In recent weeks, a number of people with health conditions who now qualify for vaccinations under state guidelines say they’ve been turned away from some Chicago Walgreens stores despite the fact that many other Walgreens stores in the city and suburbs are vaccinating that group. The inconsistency at Walgreens, which has the largest vaccination program of any pharmacy in the state, has created yet another layer of confusion and anxiety for a group that’s already having trouble finding vaccines.
Though Illinois expanded vaccine eligibility to people under 65 with certain health conditions Feb. 25, many Chicago-area health departments and hospitals are not yet vaccinating people in that group, saying they’re still focusing on seniors and essential workers because of limited vaccine supply. Chicago is set to begin vaccinating people with health conditions March 29, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Wednesday, and Cook County plans to begin vaccinating people in that group Monday.
Illinois residents under 65 with health conditions have instead been left to hunt for shots mostly at retail pharmacies, including Walgreens, which has more than 500 stores offering vaccines in the state.
Walgreens follows federal, state and local eligibility guidelines when giving vaccines, said Kris Lathan, a Walgreens spokeswoman, in an email.
“These guidelines differ per state and jurisdiction and are rapidly evolving, which, at times, and understandably, can complicate the scheduling process,” she said. “We make every effort to reflect changing eligibility guidelines through our scheduler and in our stores, so that our pharmacists have the latest information available to ensure the most current guidance is carried out in our practices and procedures at the store level.”
The disparities, however, have proved frustrating to a number of people.
Sachin Master, 42, of the West Town neighborhood, was thrilled to get an appointment for a shot at a Walgreens in the Gold Coast last weekend. He has Type 2 diabetes and was looking forward to getting vaccinated so he could take his 6-year-old daughter to see her cousins in Michigan this summer, after not visiting them for a year.
When making his appointment online, he indicated that he qualified because of a health condition. He filled out a form after arriving for his appointment but was told the store wasn’t vaccinating people in his category, 1b+.
He tried to explain that Illinois had opened eligibility to people under 65 with health conditions and that he knew people in that group who had been vaccinated at other Chicago Walgreens stores.
But he still left without the shot.
“I know plenty of 1b+ people who’ve gotten them without any issue,” Master said. “It seems like it’s very random, and I was just unlucky.”
He ended up instead traveling to a CVS Health store in Kankakee on Thursday for a shot.
Some say even calling Walgreens stores ahead of appointments, to make sure they really are vaccinating people with health conditions, doesn’t always provide clarity.
Carly Anger, 40, of the Loop, spent about 10 hours visiting pharmacies’ websites and typing in ZIP codes looking for appointments, before finally securing one at a Walgreens in the South Loop.
But Anger, who has moderate asthma and several autoimmune disorders, had seen people in the Facebook group Chicago Vaccine Hunters warning that some stores were turning people away. So she called the South Loop Walgreens after making her appointment, just to double check.
The person she spoke with told her the store was not vaccinating people with health conditions, despite the fact that she had just made an appointment there online by indicating she had a health condition.
She agonized about what to do. She didn’t want to take the spot if it wasn’t meant for someone like her. But she hadn’t lied to get the appointment, and she knew she qualified for the vaccine under state guidelines.
Ultimately, she decided to chance it and go for her scheduled appointment. Despite what she’d been told over the phone, she was given the vaccine at the store Monday. She again indicated, on another form at the store, that she qualified because of her health conditions. Anger brought a screenshot of her medical records on her phone to prove her health conditions, but no one asked to see it, she said.
The whole situation made her feel anxious, and a little guilty, she said. But she wanted the vaccine to help keep herself, and everyone else, safe. She felt that it was her duty to get vaccinated. “I feel if we all get vaccinated, we can make a collective difference,” she said.
Helms, the woman who was turned away from the Lakeview Walgreens, also ultimately got a vaccine — but at a different Walgreens. A couple of days after she was turned away in Lakeview, she found an appointment online at a Walgreens in Evanston.
Again, she indicated online and on her form that she qualified because of a health condition. She brought her medical records to the Evanston store, but workers said they didn’t need to see them.
Despite her experience, she sympathizes with the pharmacies.
“I think everyone is just trying to do the best they can,” Helms said. “Things are moving fast. Things are changing fast. It’s frustrating … but on the other hand, I don’t have a better answer.”