The states are:
Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia, along with the District of Columbia
In the rest of the US, you can get an appointment for the updated vaccine by using the CVS website to schedule one, and checking a box indicating that you have a risk condition. Among other things, being a smoker or being physically inactive count, so you can own up to one of those if questioned.
Getting vaccinated for COVID last year was such a ridiculous experience for me. I think it took like 4 attempts.
First time I tried, there was a shortage and I was told it wasn’t available in our area. Second time I went to a walk-in place, and they turned me away because it was going to be about an hour wait and they’d be closed by then. Third time, I got turned away because I said said “kind of” when they asked me if I’d been around anybody in the past two weeks who tested positive, even though I explained that it was a brief outdoor exchange of hellos from a distance and the neighbor didn’t test positive until a couple days later.
I ended up getting it at Walmart of all places, and they didn’t even ask any of those qualifying questions (i.e. exposure in the past 2 weeks). They just wanted to know my insurance info and which arm to give the shot in.
Now that I’m a caretaker for a medically fragile adult who has never fully recovered from their prior COVID infection, I’m hoping that my situation is covered. But if not, I’ve already been trained on what to say to “qualify”.