OREGON, USA — Walgreens has joined the list of pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccinations to Oregonians. However, scheduling appointments at any pharmacy is proving to be a challenge.
Laura Kuperstein of Portland booked appointments at Costco's pharmacy for herself, her husband and another senior friend this week.
"Felt so lucky," she said. "We were all just so excited and thrilled."
Getting through the system to schedule an appointment is a feat, considering most pharmacies have only received a small number of doses relative to the hundreds of thousands of Oregonians now eligible for inoculation.
However, Kuperstein learned her Costco appointment got bumped to later in the week, then again to next week.
"We're starting to feel really iffy about this whole thing," she said.
Alan Iberg of Happy Valley had a different pharmacy challenge. He tried to sign up with Walgreens, which said it started vaccinating Oregonians Wednesday.
He said appointments were not available and Walgreens referred him back to Oregon Health Authority's online scheduler. Despite multiple attempts, he was not able to book an appointment.
"We do sort of expect things to work these days," Iberg said. "While I was trying to sign up, probably a billion other people were also."
KGW checked Walgreens' coronavirus vaccine scheduling website Wednesday. It said there were no appointments within 25 miles of Portland, Vancouver, Salem and Pendleton.
In a news release, Walgreens said it received 8,190 initial COVID vaccine doses this week. It did not specify which of its 73 Oregon locations got those doses.
Walgreens did not provide KGW with an interview, but sent clips of vaccinations being performed in other parts of the country.
The pharmacy chain did say vaccine supply continues to be a barrier to scheduling more appointments.
Safeway and Albertsons' websites also said appointments were not available.
Health Mart, the parent franchise of several independent pharmacies in Oregon and southwest Washington, launched its vaccination scheduler last week. However, the connection timed out twice Wednesday when KGW attempted using it.
Fred Meyer's website said it had no available appointments within 20 miles of a Portland zip code.
When Laura Kuperstein asked Costco why her appointments were getting delayed, she said the answer was also about vaccine supply challenges.
"It's really a life and death situation, especially for us seniors," Kuperstein said. "We're all so anxious to get this vaccine ... I can hug my grandkids and get back into life again."
Pharmacies have asked for patience until supply increases and for people to continue trying to book vaccination appointments online.