Songwriter Melody Walker approaches the pharmacy counter at a Walgreens in East Nashville. She’s excited to get her omicron-targeting COVID booster before attending AmericanaFest.
“It’s, you know, multi-venue, and it’s also a business conference for Americana music. So it’s going to be a lot of elbow rubbing and loud talking close to each other in venues, hopefully with masks, but the boost is welcome for sure.”
When setting up an appointment, she was surprised at how many slots were available. As of Friday, pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS even had some same-day appointments open.
“I’m not exactly sure what that means for the announcement and how well news has gotten around,” Walker said. “But I’m going to be telling all my musician friends that they can get the boost.”
Earlier in the pandemic, public health departments tended to take the lead with vaccines. But Metro Public Health has shut down its drive-thru immunization and testing sites.
The department says it just received its first doses of the new omicron-fighting booster. It plans to start distributing them at community pop-ups starting Tuesday. You can find a calendar of events here. The department advises folks who still need their initial course of COVID vaccines to schedule an appointment at one of their clinics.
The new boosters are bivalent, meaning they target both the original strain of COVID-19 as well as the more-contagious omicron variant. To find booster appointments near you, visit vaccines.gov.
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