At 38 weeks pregnant with her second child, Hannah Robb has no time to waste on red tape. Yet she’s lost hours in her struggle to figure out whether and when she can get a COVID booster. Her doctor said she could—and should, she told me. According to her doctor, she wouldn’t need a prescription; according to her local New York City Walgreens, she would. When Robb finally arrived at her appointment at the pharmacy, prescription in hand, she wasn’t sure whether the shot, which can cost $250 out of pocket, would be covered by insurance; so far, no one has billed her, so she assumes it was. “It’s hard to know what’s right and what’s wrong until you show up to the pharmacy and see what they’ll do,” Robb told me.

Similar scenes are playing out at drugstores across the country. The Trump adminis

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