For those of you who have been hearing about the challenges of scheduling a Covid-19 vaccine appointment, I can say that these challenges are real. It is a confusing system and my first attempts felt very uncomfortable, even as someone who works with software. This guide hopes to help prepare anyone who has yet to schedule an appointment or anyone who wants insight into the Walgreens process.
The following are instructions based on aggregate experiences in downtown Chicago, IL and all scheduling was done a computer web browser (these instructions should be transferable to mobile or tablet but there may be discrepencies).
The instructions are specific to the Illinois vaccination process and the questionairre/scheduling prcoess differs slightly from state to state.
The ideal time for scheduling may also vary depending on state. Based on my experience and of others I know in Chicago, the success rate of signing on at 6am to book an appointment is 66.6%.
- Create a Walgreens Account
- Schedule Covid-19 Vaccine Appointments at 6am
- Schedule Appointments for Dose 1 + Dose 2
- Get Confirmation Emails
- Reschedule/Cancel Appointments
- Bonus: Myths and Rumors Explained
Before scheduling a vaccine appointment, you must create an account. Click this link to create an account with all of the necessary contact informatioin and personal data required during Covid-19 Vaccine scheduling.
Note about the registration form: There are different registration forms dependidng on where you are on the website, but I recommend that you use this form to create your account. Don't worry if you used a different form or if you can't remember how you originally signed up--you will be prompted to enter all necessary info when scheduling your appointments.
Note scheduling for others: If you are planning to schedule appointments for other people, you can help them create their accounts and safely store their login credientials. When signing in to Walgreens.com, they require an authentication verification code that you can choose to be emails or texted to the account owner. Unfortunely I see no alternative to waking up your sleeping partner and asking them to give you this code, unless you can access their email account!
Ok great, with accounts created, you can try to schedule your appointments.
You can try scheduling online at any time but there likely won't be any availability later in the day.
It's 6am (CST). It's dark. It's time to schedule your appointments! This is the only tried-and-true method that allows you to complete the process. For me, waking up early is hard. This is why it is important to fill out as much information as possible before scheduling--you want to schedule as fast as possible and typing before coffee can be slow. If you are already awake and living at 6am, then you are ready!
Tip: bring your laptop/iPad to bed with you!
The following steps will guide you through the entire scheduling process, so click this link and start scheduling!
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Click button "Schedule new appointment"
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Enter your zipcode and click the search button
- This is the initial search to determine if there are any available appointments within a 25 mile radius of that zipcoode.
- This zipcode can be any zipcode that you can access to get your shots and meet eligibility requirements. It might be your actual zip or somewhere further away.
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You should see a bright green message saying "Appointments available!" and a button "See if you're eligible". Click that button.
- If you see a bright red message saying "Appointments unavailable", try searching different zipcodes. If it continues to find nothing, try again tomorrow :(
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Are you eligible? Select your eligiblity group and click "Continue" (see eligibility guidelines here)
- If you select "none of the above", you are not eligible for the vaccine. Come back when you are!
- If you select any of the other options, you are eligible! You'll move on to the screening page.
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This next page is the "Covid-19 Vaccine Screening" page. Answer the questions and click button "Next"
- If you select "Yes" for question 2 or 3, you are not eligibile for the vaccine and will be shown a message about returning at a later time.
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If you passed the screening, you'll see a page with another button--click the button "Schedule vaccination"
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Another form!?! This page has "Patient Information" which captures your demographic information, and asks if you've received your first dose. This guide assumes you have not received any, so select "No", enter demographic info, and click "Schedule Now"
- You can deline to answer demographic questions in the dropdowns.
- Why is demographic info captred? The page says, "Race and ethnicity will be collected anonymously. CDC requests this data for public health information purposes." This struck me as unnecessary at first, but then I found a few articles indicating the data is being put to good use: Demographic Characteristics of Persons Vaccinated During the First Month of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program, County-Level COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and Social Vulnerability
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And FINALLY, you should see on a page titled "Schedule Dose 1", you should see the zipcode search bar again and there should be a list of available appointments at various Walgreens locations
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Schedule Dose 1
a. Select a location
b. Select a time
c. Click button "Select dose 1" -- You'll be brought to another page to schedule Dose 2.
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Schedule Dose 2
a. Select a location (this may be selected automatically from your Dose 1 location)
b. Select a time
c. Click button "Select dose 2"
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See a confirmation page! That's it! You did it!
Note about availability: When I tried scheduling, I logged in on a Sunday and only saw appointments available for Friday (5+ days in the future). There were times listed from 9am - 3:45pm.
Note about timing: When trying to schedule later in the day (or even later in the morning, like at 7:36am), sometimes the site will find an appointment for Dose 1 and then fail to find an appointment for Dose 2, which prevents the user from booking either. You must book both at the same time on Walgreens.com.
Within the next few minutes you should get a confirmation email for Dose 1. Within the next few hours you should get a confirmation email for Dose 2. These emails will have your appointment information and links to manage the appointments.
WAHOO! Congratulations. You are on your way to be being vaccinated, helping to keep people (family, friends, strangers) safe! Stay vigilient until then, and even after it is recommended by the CDC to continue to practice safe socializing.
Now that you have scheduled your Covid-19 Vaccine appointments, you may need to edit them.
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Visit and log in here to manage your appointments
- You can click "Edit appointment" and to find a new time, but I recommend doing this at 6am again because it's just as difficult to find a new appointment now that you have one.
- You can click "Cancel appointment" to completely cancel.
Time Traveling (change computer's date): does not work. Changing your computers Date/Time will not affect the available appointments. This makes sense from a technical perspective--the Walgreens site is hosted by some server and it uses that server's time to dictate it's functionality. Modern websites generally do not depend on your computer's local Date to behave. Anyone who has been playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be familiar with this "Time Traveling" technique--but, fortunately for security and accuracy and unfortunately for cheating the system, it doesn't work here.
Refreshing the page 100 times: This can work but it's infuriating. What I've found is that the Walgreens site will show availabilities for Dose 1 and then fail to find any for Dose 2, preventing the user from booking any appointments. You must book both at the same time on Walgreens.com.
Getting leftovers: This can work if you call in the morning/evening, or physically stop by in the evening. Why are there leftovers? It's because of the packaging and dose preparation process. These vaccines are shipped in vials that are diluted and prepped to provide X number of doses per vial. Moderna has 10 doses per vial; Pfizer has 6 doses per vial. Vials must be used within a short time period after opening and preparation.
CDC timelife of open vial of Pfizer is as follows: "Keep mixed vaccine between 2⁰C and 25⁰C (36⁰F and 77⁰F) and administer within 6 hours. Discard any unused vaccine after 6 hours. Do not return to freezer storage." CDC Pfizer document here, "How to Preprare the Vaccine"
CDC timelife of open vial of Moderna is as follows: "Note the date and time the vial was first punctured. Keep the vaccine between 2°C and 25°C (36°F and 77°F) for up to 6 hours. Discard any unused vaccine after 6 hours." DCD Moderna document here, "How to Prepare the Vaccine"
My understanding is that either vaccine must be used after 6 hours of being opened and prepped for injection. So, if a technician needs to draw from a new vial on the last scheduled appointment, then they must finish the pack within the next 6 hours and will have some extra doses!
VaccineFinder says there are availabilities when there are none: https://vaccinefinder.org/search/ is a great tool that works directly with the CDC and vaccination locations to provide access to the vaccine. They have a well documented process that says that participating providers are "required to submit on-hand inventory information" for each vaccine on "a daily basis". Those inventory levels will be "reported to CDC through VaccineFinder at 5:00 am Eastern time daily." Submitting this information is a manual process of uploading a file, which means the VaccineFinder website becomes outdated as vaccines are administered throughout the day. VaccineFinder Data Import Documentation, System Methodology