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Boston to start offering Covid-19 shots at City Hall, Bolling Building
By adamg on Mon, 10/30/2023 - 11:24am
The Boston Public Health Commission reports that starting Wednesday, the city will offer free Covid19 vaccinations noon to 6 p.m., Thursday through Saturday at the Bolling Building, 2300 Washington St. in Nubian Square and in the 2nd-floor Haymarket room at City Hall, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Mondays and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Although free, the city requests people register for the shots.
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Comments
BPHC vs CVS
I registered for my C19 vax at CVS on the first day they were approved. Then CVS canceled the appointment citing lack of supply. So I made another appointment. And they cancelled again. And again.
Finally, I was able to get a 4th appointment that wasn't canceled.
Hopefully people have better luck with BPHC because CVS really dropped the ball. It was better when the distribution was run entirely by the feds.
It's partly supply, but...
It's partly supply, which might not be entirely on the pharmacies. But I've always thought it wasn't a good idea to outsource public health to large pharmacy chains, for a number of reasons. The one I wasn't anticipating is staffing. Both CVS and Walgreens have had walkouts by pharmacy staff because of understaffing and poor working conditions. I got my covid booster at a Walgreens (after, you guessed it, CVS canceled on me), and the pharmacy staff, while professional, were obviously harried and having to deal with a lot. They had a young guy working the register, but to do so he had to know how to accept insurance, and he had to ask someone else for help constantly because every customer was a new adventure. And the woman who gave me my shot said they were absolutely slammed with demand. This was back in September. There are now some flu and covid shot clinics put on by local health departments and the like, and providers are finally able to give shots as well, but I think t was a mistake to make them last instead of first.
Agree, and
A major difference between previous COVID shots and this one is that all the providers need to pony up money ahead of time to buy the vaccine. A CVS or Walgreens doesn't have a ton of issues with that but the local public health groups can't afford to get a bunch of shots in advance and then hope the billing goes through without issues.
I'm glad that BPHC has found a way to provide!
Walgreens wasn't necessarily better
Last month, I showed up for my appointment at the Walgreens in Central Square, Cambridge, only to be told that they had not received any Covid vaccines at all. I ended up getting my shot at my doctor's office.
Spammy
Walgreens wouldn't even let me see open slots without providing a phone number. And even through there was no open slots, they started txt spamming me shortly thereafter.
I will never consider Walgreens again for vaccines.
They're all pretty terrible
I have hated the Walgreen's site since the first days of covid. But it was a way to get a shot without waiting more than a month for it, and was only possible at the cost of the website aggravation plus a twenty mile drive. I believe a big part of the argument in favor of retail pharmacies was convenience due to many locations, and wide availability. What a crock that is.
Good.
The private sector did poorly this year. While I had no problem getting a Covid shot at CVS, they were really understaffed.
My father, who had a recent health incident, couldn’t get the Covid shot once he was released from the hospital into rehab. I don’t like the way particularly vulnerable people have been neglected.
Kids too
Kids are definitely falling through the cracks of some insurance plans. It's straight cash or no shot for you.
Wonderful!
This is a great idea. The big pharmacies are badly understaffed this year, and it's getting worse. Supply chain problems are making their jobs harder and more time consuming. Health insurance companies automatically rejecting claims without prior authorization makes their jobs harder and more time consuming. So they need more help to deal with the same number of customers and they aren't getting it.
Once I got to the health
Once I got to the health insurance questions, I wasn't allowed to proceed. I thought it was free? Is there a trick I need to know to bypass to the end of the application so I can be confirmed for my vaccination?
It's complicated.
Pharmacies are no longer receiving the vaccines for free. (It sounds like they were previously.)
In the current situation, you have to find out if your insurance covers the shot, and you may have to go to an in-network provider to have it covered. If your insurance doesn't cover it *at all*, then you can get it for free via the Bridge Access Program -- but I don't know if all pharmacies participate in it.
Weirdly, Cigna regards CVS as in-network "except for preventative care", which includes vaccines. I hate this system. I ended up going to Inman Pharmacy in Cambridge, which was a good decision.
Big chains should
CVS and Walgreens should be participating in the Bridge Access Program, although I have heard of stories of pharmacists not understanding the program and some people being charged when they should not have been.
Where's Rwgfy?
Isn't this topic one of Rwfgy's hobby horses?
How can you tell?
It's impossible for me to tell what topics are rwgfy's hobby horses, given that they come in to a thread on one topic and interject something completely irrelevant.