US-ians without health insurance would normally be able to get free covid shot access through the end of the year, but it was cut at the end of august to prevent a government shutdown.
If you, like me, are uninsured in the united states and want the new covid vaccine sooner than later, first please look into local resources/ nearby vaccine clinics/community health departments because they can offer low-cost or no cost vaccinations (albeit it may be a few weeks until they have covid shots on hand. they should have flu shots right now).
If you can’t wait, are high risk or living with someone high risk, and say “ok fine I will just pay” you can schedule a covid vaccine online at most pharmacies, but they are typically charging in the ~$190 to ~$200 range. Goodrx coupons exist (and I think so do other medicine coupon services), but searching for the correct current vaccines is unintuitive just searching “covid vaccine” will only retrieve coupons for earlier discontinued formulas. Instead, you need to search for “Comirnaty” (Pfizer’s current covid vaccine), “Spikevax” (Moderna’s current covid vaccine), or “Novavax” (for, of course, Novavax’s covid vaccine).
To use a service like Goodrx (or one of its equivalents), enter your zip code, choose a pharmacy close to you with the most affordable price for the vaccine (you do NOT need to create an account, start a free trial, or even download an app) then screenshot, print out, or clearly write down the codes in the coupon (the bin, pcn, group, and member id codes).
Schedule a covid shot appointment at that pharmacy you saved the coupon for, and specify when you arrive at the pharmacy that you want to use a goodrx (or whatever youre using) coupon and give them the coupon information/codes. The coupon isn’t insurance, but the pharmacy will enter the information from the coupon as if it is. (Note that the coupon will Only apply to the price of the covid shot, not to any other shots you may get at the appointment). Unless something goes wrong, the pharmacy is contractually obligated to charge you the discounted price noted on the coupon.
Below are coupon links for the current covid vaccines. If there are other medicine coupon retrieving services out there for covid vaccines, feel free to reblog with the links.
https://www.goodrx.com/comirnaty
^ directory of local health departments that can often provide free or discounted vaccines