The Great Vaccine Runaround
Friday afternoon, RFK Jr. assured the American public that “anyone who wants a COVID vaccine can get one.” Simple words, right? Comforting, even. My family actually believed him. We should have known better.
We spent our Saturday bouncing between pharmacies, clinics, and urgent care centers like a pack of deranged pilgrims searching for a miracle. Instead of shots in arms, we got blank stares, contradictory instructions, and slammed doors. My cousin was flatly told, “We don’t have it.” My sister was told she needed a doctor’s prescription—as though a global pandemic and a three-year history of open vaccine distribution somehow wasn’t evidence enough that people should be allowed to protect themselves. Another family member got as far as signing the consent form only to be told the system “wouldn’t allow” the shot without additional paperwork. Meanwhile, RFK’s statement from Friday echoed in our ears like a cruel joke.
This is what happens when leadership trades facts for ideology, science for suspicion, and clear planning for chaos.
A Prescription for Confusion
Let’s be clear: no one needed a doctor’s prescription for the COVID vaccine before. It was available, accessible, and part of a coordinated national effort. Now? Pharmacies are improvising rules, clerks are shrugging, and regular citizens are left trying to piece together a medical scavenger hunt just to stay protected.
The “new policy” depends on which door you walk through. Walgreens says one thing, CVS another. Local clinics claim they never got the updated guidance. One facility even told my nephew they hadn’t heard anything about new shipments. He might as well have asked for an alien blood transfusion.
When government officials and presidential candidates muddy the waters with lies and contradictions, people get hurt. In this case, people are denied basic public health protection.
The Real Cost of Lies
It’s not just inconvenience—it’s dangerous. COVID hasn’t packed up and left town. Vulnerable people are still at risk: the elderly, the immunocompromised, the
folks working customer-facing jobs every single day. When RFK Jr. declares “anyone can get one” and then fails to ensure that’s remotely true, he’s gambling with people’s lives.
Worse, this bait-and-switch erodes public trust even further. First, he downplayed vaccines altogether. Now he claims to be fixing access—but the reality on the ground is chaos. The whiplash is intentional. It keeps people cynical, exhausted, and less likely to keep trying. That’s how public health collapses—not with a bang, but with a series of confusing phone calls, contradictory clerks, and frustrated families giving up.
A Day Wasted, A Trust Broken
By the time we gave up and went home, my family had burned through an entire day, gallons of gas, and no small amount of sanity. Some of us still unvaccinated. Some furious. All of us betrayed.
And for what? Because RFK Jr. wanted a soundbite on Friday afternoon. Because it’s easier to declare victory than to do the hard work of coordination. Because the truth doesn’t matter anymore—only the performance of truth.
Enough Is Enough
We don’t need empty promises, we don’t need another round of lies, and we sure as hell don’t need more confusion. What we need is competence. Real leadership. A functioning system where “anyone who wants a COVID vaccine can get one” is not a slogan but a fact.
Until then, families like mine will keep wasting time and risking health. And every person turned away from a pharmacy line will be another reminder that America’s so-called leaders have traded public health for political theater.
RFK can keep his Friday statements. We’ll take Saturday’s reality: a bitter lesson in how lies travel fast, but vaccines apparently do not.
Julie Bolejack, MBA
