We are Kaiser members and it seems like they might have a supply issue. Appointments are booked well over a month in advance and they are not taking walk ins. They gave approval for members to go to an outside pharmacy and have it billed to Kaiser.
1 Like
Around Honolulu and Foster City in late September/early October, you really had to call around to get a covid booster. I think supplies have improved since but haven’t followed it since we got our 7th booster, as directed by my mds.
If you want to search pharmacies, you can try Vaccines.gov - Search for COVID‑19 vaccine locations . It looks like health care providers are not included in this search.
Costco and CVS have all three brands (i.e. including Novavax). Costco is significantly less expensive than CVS.
In Honolulu, the pharmacies often had only ONE brand of booster, I called around and was informed. My physician offices did NOT have covid vaccine and suggested calling pharmacies. Kaiser had vaccine for its members only.
Switched my appointment until Tuesday. That way I’m hoping there won’t be any issues.
1 Like
Not too surprising, especially for smaller locations, since they probably do not expect enough business to buy the minimum amount of each of various brands, and do not want to deal with different storage, handling, and administration instructions for each one.
FWIW, pharmacies near me in central MA only seem to have one type of booster too. I’ve never had a choice. If I want a different booster I have to pick a different pharmacy. I’m not picky on brand so I’ve always gone with the closest I could get to my house and have had a mix of moderna and Pfizer.
Our pharmacies also only have one brand available. But I have 3 CVSs, 1 Walgreens, and a Walmart within a 3 mile radius. I get a few more locations if I go out to 5 miles. All have plenty appointments all of the time, so it wasn’t a big deal to get Moderna vs Pfizer. I didn’t see the other one anywhere, but I admit I didn’t look too hard either. I would have been fine with Pfizer even. I just preferred Moderna since I got covid (4 months) after the Pfizer one and not the others. Probably wouldn’t have made a difference if it had been Moderna, but who knows.
DS went to Costco for his Novavax as scheduled. They said they didn’t have it, so he went back to Pfizer. He’s under 30. I wish he’d just passed on that ‘opportunity’. Oh well.
On another note, my provider did write a script for prophylactic Paxlovid - was told a month or so ago that they couldn’t unless there was a documented infection.
The meds expire 11/23 - with an extension to 2/24. I’m guessing this stuff isn’t flying off the shelf or old product is being shipped in the hopes of clearing the shelves. Oh well, it was still a zero co-pay and it will be ready and waiting for me thru the winter months.
1 Like
Keep an eye for another extension. Very likely to happen.
Paxlovid made a huge difference for my husband. Went from wilting away with fever and sky high BP to almost normal in a day. That Covid-caused BP jump was very scary. He had what technically would have been considered a “rebound” but we wouldn’t have noticed it but for the testing. He tested every day just because he is a scientist 
to qualitatively observe how the virus disappears and saw a significantly brighter test line after the almost disappeared one the day before. But no high BP or any other scary symptoms. Same “rebound” happened with me even though I did not get the drug (I got positive a few days after my husband was already on the mend).
3 Likes
I plan to take it with me on an upcoming trip to Europe. It’s a comforting feeling knowing it’s in my little medical kit. Didn’t want to get stuck running around London trying to find this stuff.
6 Likes
When I had COVID-19, I got dark lines for several days after all of the (minor) symptoms went away (not rebound, they were dark since the first positive test; no Paxlovid or other drugs either). Only the day before there was no T line on the test was the T line fainter than before.
When I had COVID I showed a -albeit intensity decreasing - discernible positive line for 18 days. At around day 13 my super scientist/super cautious SIL ‘called it’. Said I was just fine for public consumption - well past any criteria his workplace ever had in place.
I was symptom free - except for a lingering occasional cough - around day 6/7. I guess I’m just a great test taker …
3 Likes
The Paxlovid I just picked up for my travel kit has printed expiration of 11/23 but the pharmacist wrote the extended expiration is 4/30/2024. My H’s doc won’t order him a travel pack of paxlovid but my doc was happy to order one for me because I’m so high risk.
H’s doc will immediately order paxlovid if H tests + for covid and already did when he had a + test in July. I’m thinking my pack of Paxlovid will buy us some time to reach an md who can get us each our own pack.
2 Likes
I am not high risk - other than being 64. I think the willingness to provide Paxlovid is very provider dependent.
The vaccines.gov website may not be accurate. It showed Novavax in stock for pharmacies that didn’t carry it. Rite-Aid let my H schedule Novavax, then when he got there, they said they didn’t have it (offered him his choice of Pfizer or Moderna). When I called later (I had an appt for Novavax a few days later), the pharmacy said they didn’t get any Novavax after their initial box. They said I could complain to corporate about their scheduling system. They couldn’t order more – had to take what was sent to them - by corporate Rite-Aid or Novavax?. So Rite-Aid is okay with bait-and-switch. On the vaccines.gov website, my CVS showed as having Novavax in stock. At least that appt. website said to call, so I did, and they didn’t have it.
But I ended up tracking Novavax down, and got my shot last Friday. I ended up contacting Novavax, and told them that I knew that they were depending on the vaccine to keep them afloat financially. People who wanted their vaccine were finding it hard to find it. Customer Care was interested, and someone else ended up following up with me after the call.
I have read that it is hard to find the pediatric versions of the vaccines, period. As YLE said, that has to be fixed if we want people to get the vaccine.
2 Likes
H is pretty high risk at age 81, with asthma and some complicated blood work that is being followed. His md is just more conservative than my lung doc. H got the sickest of all of us and ended up taking 9 days of paxlovid instead of just 5 (as he was still feeling very junk after the 5 day course and we had an extra 4 day course).
1 Like
Side question: Anyone know the latest recommendations regarding “isolation” for both those who have Covid, as well as those exposed?
DH tested + for Covid last week. We both had the old booster end of July, so were waiting until before the holidays for the new booster. Oh well.
DH started Paxlovid 2 days after symptoms began. It still took 4-5 days before he started to feel on the mend. CDC guidelines are confusing (to me). I thought those with Covid needed to isolate only 5 days, and could venture back out after 5 days from the start of symptoms, as long as symptom and fever free – wearing a mask for 10 days from start.
But it also advises someone who has direct exposure (me) to mask when indoors in public for 10 days. 10 days from what start date? DH start of symptoms? End of symptoms? So far, I’m symptom free and my tests are negative. Just wondering when I’m supposedly in the clear.
According to the LADPH, day 0 is your last contact with the infected person.
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/ncorona2019/covidquarantine/
What is a Close Contact?
You are a “close contact” if you shared the same indoor airspace with someone with COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period while they were infectious.*
Examples of indoor airspaces are homes, waiting rooms, airplanes. An example of “a total of 15 minutes or more” is being in the same airspace with the person for 5 minutes at least 3 different times in 24 hours.
*A person is considered to be infectious (meaning they can spread COVID-19 to others) from 2 days before their symptoms began until they meet criteria to end isolation. If they test positive for COVID-19 but do not have any symptoms, they are considered to be infectious from 2 days before their test was taken through Day 5.
1 Like
If you have a plentiful supply of tests, use one shortly before going to a situation where you may infect others. If positive, cancel that activity.
3 Likes