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COVID booster shots, who can get them, and why the qualifications are so wide-ranging

The CDC has a list of recommendations, but hospitals, clinics and pharmacies are interpreting them differently.

MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin Healthcare physician assistant Natalie Ikeman has been giving out vaccine doses since the very beginning of the pandemic, and now, nearly two years in, she says many patients are still confused about the shot.

"Yeah, absolutely, patients are asking every day,” Ikeman says.

Especially booster shots.

Ikeman says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is their go-to source for information, and according to the CDC, to be eligible, a person must wait at least six months after receiving their initial doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and two months for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Patients must also be 65 or older, or 18 and older and either live in a long-term care facility, work in a high-risk setting, or have an underlying medical condition.

Those last two qualifications are very open-ended.

A lot of jobs qualify as being in a high-risk setting, and for medical conditions, there are 19 categories that qualify.

Those categories include things like cancer, heart conditions and organ transplants, but also conditions that some people may not expect, including conditions like depression, obesity, diabetes, smoking cigarettes and substance abuse.

RELATED: New study shows all three vaccines lose protective power over six months

"It's patient by patient and it's understanding their medical history,” Ikeman says.

But Ikeman says these are just CDC recommendations. Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and other locations that give out booster shots, can interpret them differently.

"There probably are some pharmacies and some locations that are giving them no questions asked,” Ikeman explains.

So, it's possible that people may qualify for the booster shot at one location, but another one might say no.

"We're not turning people away, but we're just trying to educate them and making sure that they know what is recommended," Ikeman said.

KARE 11 is also hearing the wait times for the booster shot are all over the map.

Some locations are booked out for weeks, some are even a month out, but other locations can get people in within a few days.

It all depends on where you go.

RELATED: MDH: Eighth school staffer dies from COVID-19 this year

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