People are so hellbent on getting a COVID-19 vaccine that Walgreens locations across the nation, including in New York, were forced to put up signs saying the booster is not yet on the market.
“COVID-19 VACCINE NOT YET AVAILABLE,” the sign in black bolded letters reads on Walgreens and Duane Reade storefronts from California to Indiana and all across Manhattan.
“We had to put the sign up because we were getting so many calls about it that we decided we should let people know before they come in asking,” gruffed a Duane Reade worker at Ninth Avenue and West 49th Street in Hell’s Kitchen Tuesday afternoon.
“The vaccine is not ready yet. We have no information. When we do, believe me, people will hear about it.“
Tweets about the signs being spotted in locations across the country first started surfacing on Nov. 9 — the day Pfizer announced its vaccine is more than 90% effective — but it’s not immediately clear when Walgreens first decided to put up the notices.
“With increased attention on vaccine development, we continue to get customer questions about COVID vaccines in our stores. These signs are one measure to help address these questions,” a Walgreens spokesperson told The Post in an email.
A sign about the COVID-19 vaccine at a Manhattan Duane Reade.Dan Herrick
At a Duane Reade on Eighth Avenue and West 47th Street, workers were forced to put up not one, but two signs to stave off the deluge of misinformed questioners.
“People keep asking about the vaccine, and I keep having to tell them that we don’t know anything about that,” a worker told The Post.
“Hopefully when they see the signs outside, they will get the message.“
A worker at a Duane Reade, which is owned by Walgreens, on Broadway and West 50th Street said they were getting about “four or five” vaccine requests a day.
“We just wanted people to know that the vaccine’s coming, just not yet,” the staffer said.
A handful of stores in Queens didn’t have the sign up and a few in Manhattan said they hadn’t gotten many requests but put the notice up as a preemptive measure against overzealous would-be customers.
Even before the news about Pfizer’s 90% effective vaccine spread, at least one Twitter denizen already expected the immunization to be available.
“I’m at @Walgreens. They say they don’t have the coronavirus vaccine you promised by the end of last week. What gives?” Ed Deibert tweeted on Nov. 2.
“Walgreens will be one of two pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccines [to] residents of long-term care facilities nationwide,” the retail chain wrote back a few minutes later.
“But please understand that no vaccines have been approved yet.”
