Where Can I Find the New 2025–26 COVID Vaccine Near Me, Now California Has Expanded Access to Everyone?

You’re not imagining it: The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in 2025 has not been like previous years.

But the big thing to know is that despite initial restrictions, California has now opened up access to the new vaccines for everyone age 6 months and older.

How we got here: In late August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the agency would be limiting eligibility for the updated shots for the first time. The FDA said this year’s newly approved vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax will be available only to people age 65 and over and to anyone with a health condition that puts them at higher risk from COVID-19.

At first, the shots rolled out across California pharmacies only for these groups. On Sept. 15, Kaiser Permanente became the first provider in California to break with the FDA’s restrictions, making the new COVID-19 shot available to all their members age 6 months and older with no limitations.

On Sept. 17, California officials released their own recommendations for who can get the new COVID-19 vaccine, breaking with the FDA’s eligibility limits and opening up vaccines for everyone in the state age 6 months and up.

Jump straight to:

• Who is now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine under California’s new rules? 
• Where will I be able to now find a COVID-19 vaccine if I wasn’t previously eligible?
• Where can I find a COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy like Walgreens or CVS?
• How can Kaiser members get their COVID-19 vaccine right now?

Amid these developments, if you’re confused about how to get your updated COVID-19 shot this year, rest assured you’re not alone. Keep reading for where to find the new shots, how access in California has been opened up and how insurance coverage works this year.

Who can now get the new COVID-19 vaccine in California?

According to new recommendations by California public health officials around who can get the new COVID-19 vaccine, everyone age 6 months and up can get the updated shot.

The state is breaking with the FDA’s eligibility limits and opening up vaccines for “all who choose protection,” while also specifying certain groups among children and adults who’ll particularly benefit from getting the COVID-19 shot. These include:

• All children 2-18 years with risk factors or who have never vaccinated against COVID-19
• All children and adults with close contact with others with risk factors
• All adults ages 18-64 years with risk factors
• Everyone who is either planning a pregnancy, pregnant, postpartum, or lactating.

The California Department of Public Health says that these recommended vaccines will “be covered by health care insurers regulated by the State of California and can be received at your local pharmacy, from your health care provider, or through other authorized vaccine providers at no cost.”

The shots might take a little while to roll out across providers, but you can jump straight to our information on:

• How to get your new shot at a pharmacy like Walgreens or CVS
• Where else you might be able to find your COVID-19 vaccine soon.

If you’ve seen headlines that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel ACIP voted on Sept. 19 to change access to COVID-19 vaccines — by calling for patients to speak with a clinician about the risks and benefits before getting vaccinated — you should know: a CDPH spokesperson confirmed to KQED that the panel’s guidance “would not impact the recommendations, guidance, or access to COVID vaccine[s] in California.”

“As always, we encourage individuals to check with their health plan or health insurer with specific questions,” said CDPH.

How did California wind up breaking with the federal government on COVID-19 vaccines?

Earlier in September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would be join Oregon and Washington to launch a new “West Coast Health Alliance,” a coalition that has now issued its own state-specific vaccine recommendations.

In a joint statement, the governors said the CDC had “become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences,” adding that “California, Oregon, and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk.”

In June, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dissolved the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced its members with a number of doctors and researchers who have repeatedly questioned the safety of commonly used vaccines and ingredients. The new panel didn’t meet until Sept. 18, and voted to change access to COVID-19 vaccines on Sept. 19 by calling for patients to speak with a clinician about the risks and benefits before getting vaccinated. CDPH confirms this decision still doesn’t affect access to vaccines in California.

Newsom has also signed a law which allows the state to act independently from the CDC when it comes to vaccine recommendation, “empowering California to chart its own path and reject corrupted federal guidelines” according to a statement from the governor’s office.

As for how California is able to expand beyond the FDA’s eligibility restrictions, that FDA decision affects what’s called the vaccine’s “label.” Essentially, California is now making the shot available to people outside of the FDA’s limitations “off-label.”

“It’s absolutely OK for us as doctors, clinicians, providers to use vaccines and medicines” off-label this way,  said Dr. Brad Hare, an infectious disease expert at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. “It’s something that’s very commonly done, it’s very safe to do.”

Can I get my new COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy right now?

Before Sept. 17, appointments for the updated 2025–26 COVID-19 vaccines were already available at pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens and Safeway in California — but only for people who, during the online booking process, said they were either age 65 and older or have a health condition that could make them at higher risk from COVID-19. (Pharmacies take their cue from the federal government, not the states, so they’ve always been the first places that COVID-19 vaccines roll out — before shots become more widely available through providers and public health authorities.)

But now, state health officials say everyone age 6 months and up can find a COVID-19 shot at their local pharmacy, and it’ll be covered by your insurance.

On the online scheduling tools for COVID-19 vaccination appointments at CVS and Walgreens, previous messaging asking patients to confirm they were either age 65+ or had high-risk health conditions — per the FDA’s eligibility restrictions — has been removed.

Instead, patients are only asked if they want the COVID-19 vaccine and if they’re “eligible.” While online pharmacy booking pages generally still link to the CDC’s list of conditions that can make a person at higher risk from COVID-19, no actual criteria for eligibility is specified and Walgreens has confirmed that “eligible” in California means that a patient wants the vaccine and is age 6 months or older.

• Make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at CVS
• Make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Walgreens 
• Make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Safeway
• Make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Costco
• Make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Albertsons 
• Make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Walmart
• Make a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Ralph’s 

Who still can’t get the COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy?

If you get your health care through a health system like Kaiser Permanente or Sutter Health, you usually can’t get the new COVID-19 vaccine fully covered by your insurance at a pharmacy, and have to seek it out from your provider direct. Jump straight to how Kaiser members can get their COVID-19 vaccine.

The state also says that pharmacies aren’t authorized to vaccinate children age 2 and under. This means that unless your child is age 3 or older, you won’t be able to get their COVID-19 shot at a pharmacy, and should talk to you child’s pediatrician about how best to get their shot. The exception to this is CVS’s MinuteClinics, which are staffed by providers who are permitted to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to kids age 18 months and older.

Remind me: What previously counted as “high risk” to be able to make a COVID-19 vaccine pharmacy appointment?

The CDC’s current list of health conditions that make increase the risk of severe illness, hospitalization or death from COVID-19 includes cancer, chronic lung, kidney and liver disease, as well as certain disabilities. It also includes factors such as mental health conditions — including depression — obesity and being a current or former smoker.

When making an online appointment, patients were asked only to “self-attest” about any health condition that put them at higher risk and therefore makes them eligible for the shot — meaning they weren’t asked for supporting evidence. Proof of any condition was not required at a pharmacy vaccination appointment either, which is still true.

So where can I get my COVID-19 vaccine now that California has expanded eligibility?

While everyone age 6 months and up in California can now find a COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy like Walgreens or CVS, it may take a little while for vaccination appointments with providers and clinics to roll out across the state.

Some other places you may be able to find your COVID-19 vaccine soon, in addition to pharmacies:

Through your health care provider, when available

If you have health insurance, check with your health care provider to see whether they can offer you an updated COVID-19 vaccine, and when.

If you don’t have health insurance but get medical care through a city- or county-run provider, you should check with that location to see whether they can offer you the new COVID-19 vaccine.

In addition to trying to talk with your health care provider directly, check the website of your provider to see whether it offers the ability to make appointments and sign up for their vaccine notifications if that’s an option.

Through My Turn, when available

Throughout the pandemic, My Turn has been the state’s site for  Californians to schedule vaccination appointments or find walk-in locations, regardless of health insurance status.

If you visit the My Turn page, select “Make an Appointment.” My Turn will ask for your information and the ZIP code or location you’d like to use to search for vaccine appointments. You can give your home location or input other locations to see which sites might be available farther away.

My Turn will ask you to provide a cellphone number and an email address. The state says this is so you can use two-factor authentication to confirm your identity and make your appointment and to prevent bots from automatically scooping up available appointments online.

If you don’t have an email address or a cellphone number, or you have questions, you can call the California COVID-19 hotline at 833-422-4255 (Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m.–5 p.m.) and sign up over the phone. Both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking operators are available. Callers needing information in other languages will be connected to a translation service that offers assistance in over 250 languages.

Through your county, when available

Check your county’s public health website to see if the updated COVID-19 vaccine will soon be available to residents, especially those who are uninsured or underinsured.

Find your Bay Area county in our list.

How can Kaiser members get their COVID-19 vaccine?

On Sept. 15, Kaiser Permanente made the updated COVID-19 shot available to all members, breaking with the FDA’s restrictions before the state did.

A Kaiser spokesperson said the health system was making the vaccines available “at no cost” to its members “based on the latest scientific evidence and clinical guidance from our physician experts and many other sources, including leading medical societies.”

If you’re a Kaiser member, you can look up locations offering the COVID-19 vaccine near you either by appointment or on a walk-in basis.

And if you considering getting your COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy for convenience, keep in mind that if your health care is  through a system like Kaiser, you usually can’t get vaccines fully covered by your insurance. But, according to Kaiser, “you may be able to get up to half of the cost reimbursed.”

Bear in mind that right now at CVS the cost of a COVID-19 vaccine is $198.99.