You Can Now Book Your COVID-19 Vaccine In The Uber App

Uber will now let you book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Walgreens

After a rough couple of months where it was extremely difficult to get your hands on a COVID-19 vaccine, it’s now so shockingly easy to make a vaccine appointment that it’s as simple as calling an Uber. Like literally, you can book your COVID-19 vaccine and your ride to the appointment in the Uber app.

“Starting today, you can schedule your vaccination with Walgreens and your Uber ride to your appointment all in the Uber app,” Uber announced on April 28, 2021.

The vaccine appointments are being offered nationwide and Walgreens says vaccinations are now available at more than 9,000 locations across the country.

Although I’m already fully vaccinated, I fiddled around with the app to see if it was actually that simple, and it is. When you open the app, you’ll see the option to book a ride or a vaccine. Once the Walgreens appointment is confirmed, you can immediately schedule your Uber ride to get your there, all in one app. Confusing local government vaccine websites, be damned.

Previously, you could not book your Walgreens vaccine appointment in the Uber app, but Uber would provide free rides to Walgreen stores to individuals who book their appointment on their own, and who also do not have transportation and live in an underserved community. At the start, Walgreens rolled out the free-rides-to-vaccines pilot program in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and El Paso, Texas. Uber made a pledge in December to offer 10 million free or discounted rides for those who need help getting to their vaccine appointment at Walgreens. For anyone else who wants to help the cause, you can donate to the Vaccine Access Fund in the app as well and “help [Uber’s] nonprofit partners fund rides with Uber to vaccinations.”

Now that the U.S. is getting vaccinated and moving through the world again, Uber announced the vaccine appointment news among other post-pandemic, post-vax plans.

For example, Uber is about to launch something called Uber Rent with Valet, which would allow you to book a rental car and have it delivered to you. They’re also about to launch Uber Reserve for UberX, which would allow you to book a ride 30 days in advance like for rides to the airport, and per the ridesharing app, “our flight-tracking technology ensures you’ll have a ride ready when you land at your destination — even if your flight is delayed.”

But back to the vaccines. Currently, all Americans 16 and over are eligible for the vaccine. You can find walk-in clinics in your neighborhood, you can use the government’s Vaccine Finder site, or you can book an appointment at Walgreens on the Uber app. At this point there’s really no excuse not to get the jab. Happy vaxxing!