Even with a lot of Americans are taking a wait-and-see stance towards the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines, current demand is nevertheless way ahead of supply. For instance, the Los Angeles Times wrote about “vaccine chasers,” individuals who don’t have an appointment and may not even fit current eligibility criteria, but nevertheless hang out at vaccine distribution centers hoping to get a shot:
But some clinics have soon-to-expire doses left over at the end of the day or during an early-afternoon lull, and word has quickly spread about this potential back door to vaccine access. Some who flock to the sites spend hours waiting in the hope of catching a lucky break.
Another desperate strategy is going out of state. USA Today reported that of the 1.2 million shots administered so far, 41,000 were to visitors, as in “vaccine tourists,” not just part-of-the-year residents.
Independent of short supplies, the process is a mess in many states. For instance, from the Philadelphia Inquirer a couple of days ago: No phone hotlines, multiple websites, long lines: Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is confusing in Pa. and N.J. From the story:
David Zalles, 82, spent an hour on Montgomery County’s website before he realized all the appointments to get the coronavirus vaccine were already booked.
Arlene and Carl Taraschi of Burlington County preregistered on New Jersey’s website at the same time, but got appointments more than two months apart.
And 67-year-old Glenn Davis of Phoenixville contacted multiple vaccine providers but hit dead ends when he tried to make an appointment.
Five weeks after the coronavirus vaccine rollout began nationwide, millions are now eligible to get the shots in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But the states are still receiving far fewer doses than they need, and with no centralized system for administering them, confusion and frustration reign among the vaccine-hungry public.
KING5 reported on long lines and confusion in Washington State. But not to worry:
On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a new partnership with Amazon and Virginia Mason to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the public. There will be a pop-up vaccine clinic on Sunday to serve 2,000 people in phases 1A and 1B.
Readers like Tomonthebeach have been volunteering their horror stories. Hoisted from comments last Friday:
Floridaman Vaxx Vexed. I feel like Charley Brown with Lucy and the Football.
Biden has a longer way to go than he thinks with vaccination. The Florida governor, Trump’s Mini-Me, decided that Publix Grocery stores were the best way to distribute vaccines for COVID-19. The website said to come back Jan 22nd at 6AM to sign up for a vaccination – if I was a resident over 65. I opened the page at 05:59. At 06:00, the page said to stay on it and it would refresh every 60 seconds – eventually opening to an appointment registration page. At 07:42 (1hr and 42 minutes waiting in line), the page refreshed to say – sorry – no more vaccine. I rather suspect that my experience this morning is the national norm.
At least you can theoretically get a vaccine in Florida. If you search on “Where can I get a Covid vaccine near me” the first entry is HHS and the second is the CDB. Both have a link on the first page to a private site, VaccineFinder, which doesn’t list any Covid vaccines.
If you want to gaslight yourself, you can then go to the third result, from SolvHealth, Covid Vaccine Locations Near Me. Alabama is after Wyoming, so their alphabetization skills raises questions about their level of care.
When you click on a state, you get a list of cities. Remember, Birmingham is not only the biggest city in Alabama, but it is also home to the best medical school in the South at the University of Alabama (meaning they probably have some super-cold refrigerators), and two other major hospitals. This is the result:
So you have to go to the fourth result, the Alabama Department of Public Health (which remember neither HHS nor the CDC pointed to), to find:
Vaccination Update
The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) is aware that the COVID-19 Vaccine Hotline: 1-855-566-5333 is experiencing difficulties. Staff continues working to expand vaccine scheduling capabilities at the call center. Hotline personnel have been working to schedule healthcare workers for appointments and those in the 75-plus age group, law enforcement officers, and firefighters for appointments. At present there are no more appointments available at county health departments. The call center will take your contact information and add it to a waiting list. Callers will be contacted as soon as more appointments are available.
The demand for COVID-19 vaccine continues to exceed supply as there are more than 326,000 health care workers and nearly 350,000 people in Alabama who qualify for a vaccine because they are 75 years old and older.
COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline 1-855-566-5333
The hotline is for healthcare workers, people 75 years or older, and first responders, including law enforcement and firefighters to schedule an appointment for a free COVID-19 vaccination at local health departments. Telephone calls are answered from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. seven days a week. Specific information, such as what to bring and what to wear, will be provided when appointments are made. Appointments are made first come, first serve for persons within the targeted priority groups.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline received over 1.1 million calls in the first day of being open to the public. Please do not call the appointment line if you do not qualify to schedule a vaccine at this time. Due to the overwhelming amount of calls, our target population cannot get through to schedule their appointments.
Please do not call your local hospital directly to set up appointments to receive your COVID-19 vaccine….Updated information will be provided as other locations have vaccine available for additional groups.
Due to the massive call volume, callers to the COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline are encouraged to try their call again later if they get a busy signal. We are rapidly adding staff to assist callers to the scheduling hotline. We appreciate your patience. Additional information will be provided as more vaccine is available and new groups can schedule their COVID-19 vaccine.
I don’t think I need to expatiate on how dreadful this process is: you are likely to get busy signals, then have long hold times….only in many cases to be told they’ll ring you later? As if you can hang out with your phone and keep it clear to make sure you don’t miss the call back?
As you can see, a big part of the problem isn’t just limited supply but poor organization and communication. From Kaiser Health News late last week:
Nearly 6 in 10 people 65 and older who have not yet gotten a shot said they don’t have enough information about how to get vaccinated, according to the KFF survey. (KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF.)
Older Americans are not the only ones in the dark about the inoculation process. About 55% of essential workers —designated by public health officials as being near the front of the line for vaccinations — also don’t know when they can get the shots, the survey found. Surprisingly, 21% of health workers said they are unsure about when they will get vaccinated.
So…drumroll…for those of you who have gotten or attempted to get the vaccine for yourself or a family member:
1. Do you know where vaccines are being administered? Is it just through hospitals or also, a la Florida, designated drug chains? Has the state set up any clinics? If so, do the state clinics seem to be a significant channel?
2. Do you know how to set up an appointment? Do you know from personal experience if that process works well (as in how much of a time sink it is, particularly if there are no appointments available?)
3. Did you get an appointment? If so, how many attempts were required?
4. Is it possible to schedule your second shot when you schedule the first? If not, how much confidence do you have that you will get a second vaccination on time or not too long after the recommended time?
5. If you got vaccinated, was the process well run? The Wall Street Journal said for a scheduled vaccination, it should take about an hour all in, including doing intake documents and being observed for 15-30 minutes afterwards (that seems optimistic to me but perhaps it really does happen).
Please do not tell us about vaccination in nursing homes. That is a separate channel and is not that difficult to manage once the bugs are worked out.
Please do not tell us about reactions (or not) to the vaccines. The performance of the state public health’s vaccine scheduling/administration system will probably be pretty consistent across areas of the state, while vaccine reactions are more variable. We’d rather turn to data from the CDC (which you can find here) and the experience of doctors and nurses in settings where they are administering the Covid vaccines on a daily basis and thus have a decent-sized sample.
Thanks!
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I am in New Hampshire. Not currently eligible but two family members went through the process (Hospital affiliated) plus one co-worker (volunteer firefighter). All of them reported that it went smoothly with the only gripe being the sheer amount of paperwork imposed. New Hampshire is probably not representative since the population density is nowhere near the major urban centers. One notable fuckup was the categorization of teachers as not-so-essential workers. The rationale being: “the schools have been open, so we have proven that the teachers are not at risk”. Logic worthy of Trump. And, also, true-to-form and the state motto (Live free or die), people in prison are not prioritized. So, logistics – A-. Ethics – what ethics?
If the situation elsewhere in the world is of interest:
Russia
1. Yes, via state clinics.
2. Yes, at least in Moscow it’s fairly easy (via mos.ru portal or by phone), though I don’t have personal experience and this is what my acquaintances tell me.
3-5. I don’t live there now
I should add that many people are apprehensive about the Sputnik vaccine and adopting wait-and-see approach.
Israel
1. Yes, in clinics and other places
2. Yes, online via health provider personal account. I understand they have been proactively scheduling vaccinations as well.
3. Not yet, I have some allergies, so I’d rather wait until it’s my turn rather than rushing it.
4. Yes
5. I haven’t been vaccinated yet but I haven’t heard any complaints from others who have
Still better than France, from what I’ve heard from people there. It really depends in the U.S. I had one family member in Texas got lucky and booked an appointment for a drive-through vaccination. Supposedly they’re going to get back to her for the second shot, but she hasn’t heard yet. I have another family member who lives in a city in the Dakotas who signed up, had several follow-up calls and emails reminding her of the appointment day and time. The actual vaccination itself, at a hospital, was extremely well staffed, with every precaution taken to protect people there. She also scheduled her next shot before leaving. Supposedly the city is going to turn the building from a large store (now closed) into a vaccination clinic. As for me, we just started Phase 1B, though the county claimed that they have everything in place to expand their capacity – they just need the doses. I might be able to get it through work, but we’ll see.
Northern Michigan (Mother)
First inoculation (Pfizer) last week via drive-through at the main hospital’s urgent care facility
Took about 2 calls after the hospital put out press release (and was broadcasted) about opening the drive-through
Second inoculation will be the same day/time as the first dose.
Drive through does not sound like a good idea. If she went into anaphylactic shock, how would she have been treated? The current protocol is to wait 15-30 mins (even the Journal mentions this) where nurses can see if you start reacting badly so they can administer an epi-pen. Even if you are sitting in a car, you might be afflicted too seriously to call (your tongue can swell up) plus it would take longer for medical personnel to get to you. In other words, this sounds like it seriously skimps on safety in the interest of throughput.
See my experience below with this. I was regularly checked by the staff.
Please don’t interject when it’s not your comment and your response isn’t on point. This was drive-through in MICHIGAN. You say below that you are in TEXAS. You are confusing the discussion rather than helping.
Your point was “Drive through does not sound like a good idea.” I was addressing that issue and pointing out based on my experience I detailed that drive through can work. Not trying to be difficult. My my!
After playing whack a mole with city and county health care “providers” I finally got a time and place certain for a vaccination. I am 86 and have had allergies to two meds not requiring an epi-pen but causing three days of misery. I have many health issues but have been cleared for the vaccination. I will be going to a drive through facility connected with a major university health system. My driver is a veterinarian and so far has been my most reliable source of information. If I need to go to an emergency room, she will not hesitate to call 911.
It is no a matter of “calling 9/11”. The epi-pen needs to be administered almost immediately if you go into shock. I have been told in one case in by the MD of the patient in question (MD already known to me and not a hysteric or anti-vax), in gory detail that IN A HOSPITAL with the injectees seated in a room in view of the nurses, even after an epi-pen administration, they had to administer an emergency tracheotomy to save her. Had she had to be driven to an ER instead, I would not bet on her having made it.
I have not wanted to run this incident in a post because it would be depicted as alarmist. But the point is anaphylactic shock is life threatening. I would be concerned that nurses monitoring people in cars could not respond in time, particularly if someone drove in alone. It would be easy for them to be spread too thin.
Here’s what happened for my mother in central VA: signed up for vaccination approval via blue ridge health district online form. Got confirmation back they had received our info. Few days later, got email she (age 84) had been deemed qualified for vaccination. Were sent link to UVa clinic in Charlottesville to sign up for a time. Went to signup page and picked an appointment time slot, was about a week in the future. Got confirmation we had signed up. Went to clinic,with ID and showed that a few times. Got to vaccination room, and got shot.
As an aside, they drew a shot and only had .2ml left, so disposed that syringe, got a new vial and drew the proper .3ml dose. Seems silly to be tossing vaccine imo.
We signed up for follow up appointment in 3 weeks (Pfizer).
So overall went fairly well here.
In PA spouse (front line worker in a rehab facility) got hers through work and has now had the second Pfizer shot. How her facility managed to get their doses when they did is completely unclear, and distribution was apparently up to the facility. Anyone with patient exposure and patients at the time were offered the first shot, but not admin personnel for instance, although it was unclear how the patients (who generally have severe mobility issues) were expected to get the second dose if, as expected, they were discharged by the time it was due.
FWIW, about 1/3 of the workers declined, including most of the aides (CNA’s) who are plenty exposed but more black/brown and generally less trusting of admin.
In central NY State there is a NYS DOH website that lists all possible locations that *may* have vaccine. You then go through the list to find a location and time. The largest distributor is the Onondaga County health department and they provide shots at the County indoor arena. neighbors have used this venue, but lines and waits are long. The state DOH uses the state fairgrounds. Both the county and state sites now show no available appointments going out months for eligible groups this morning.
When my wife searched for appointments on January 11 when it opened for 65+, she was able to book January 21 for us at a Kinney drug store that is a northern NY chain. They had good text notification system when and where vaccine is available (there are virtually no locations this morning). We received Moderna and a vaccination cards and we’re scheduled for dose 2 on February 19. Because the single pharmacist does shot, they do only 20 per day (I think there are 90 stores). The national pharmacy chains have not shown any availability. The process was cumbersome and required perseverance to actually get an appointment.
I have no idea of the number of vaccinations locally; I’d guess mid 5 figures including health care and nursing homes in an area of 460,000.
A brother in Alaska got a quick 65+ appointment at a national chain around January 9. The other 2 brothers got vaccinated in Louisiana bc of employment status in health care.
California, which is dead last among States in administering the vaccines it has recieved.
I’m in Tier 1B and have registered with St Joes as of yesterday.
No date given “We’ll let you know via Email”.
I spoke with my primary care physician on the 15th, only half the staff at her clinic had recieved their first shot at that time and she (Age 65) was not one of them and she did not know when she would recieve her first shot.
Best guess?
Sometime in April for me, if things go well.
In Sweden we’re in vaccination “Phase I” which means only certain people working in elder care or health care are eligible. I know just one friend, a medical doctor in internal medicine, who has received her first dose so far (Pfizer). People were contacted through their employers.
Next month they start “Phase II” which means 70+ people, some designated risk groups and other care professions. Phase III will involve yet-to-be-defined risk groups ages 18+ and Phase IV is all other adults. Booking is done through the region-administered health clinics (vårdcentraler), but until Phase II there will be no slots visible for booking. I expect that it will be late spring at least before people my age are offered anything and maybe it will be AZ or maybe J&J. The stats through January 17th indicate that about 1.7% of the population has received a first dose which tracks closely with total doses delivered.
I haven’t attempted to be vaccinated because Massachusetts, at the moment, is pretty much a disaster. We’re famous for hospitals, but our Public Health apparatus has been a bad joke for a long time.
Massachusetts lagging behind most other states in COVID-19 vaccination rollout
Just over 5 percent of state residents have gotten a vaccine shot
Tennessee here – we’re apparently nearing 10% vaccinated for the whole state (passed 500,000 vaccinations over the weekend). My friend, who works for the state public health department, is optimistic that that’s helping with case numbers a la Israel. And my friend is estimating and hoping to continue at 10% of the population getting vaccinated a month.
Personally, I haven’t been able to get a vaccination despite working with prison and jail inmates, which is a little disappointing. We have broad groups for priority, such as doing first-come-first served for over 65 year olds and a standby list with a daily lottery to avoid wasting any doses or appointment times.
I’m actually impressed with how the state is handling vaccination, especially given how poorly it has managed most of the other aspects of slowing the spread of COVID.
Early in the vaccine roll out here in Memphis, the city/county set up a drive through vaccine shot program for medical and first responders. There was some confusion about people over 65 with a pre-existing condition being able to get the vaccine too. Someone in health department or local government told their important friends about possibility to get a shot if you’re over 65 and tell nurse you have a pre-existing condition. Well all these older, rich/connected white people flood the line before medical and first responders even get a chance. By middle of second day people are getting pissed because word is getting out about being over 65. City council members go on tv telling public the shots aren’t for 65+ normal people, just medical and first responders. Things seemed to have smoothed out, but I know a few well connected people who have been getting shots before medical and dental workers. Not sure how people are arranging the second shot. I’m in my mid 40’s and waiting for Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
Being well-connected, whether through an institution like Vanderbilt University, or knowing where to look for the overflow vaccines (someone was talking to me about going out of county to one of the more rural areas where people are said to be refusing available doses) seems to be the major complaint and issue here in the Nashville area too.
PA: wife and I are > 70 but < 75.
I had religiously followed state DOH website and wrote several directed letters complaining about lack of 'actionable' info and that guidelines did not follow Azar's update priority list.
I also received an automatic email from health provider, Geisinger, that stated they had no registration process at all.
Jan 20, the PA grapevine went into overload. the PA DOH priority moved our age group into 1A, at the level of health care providers. We got calls that our provider was taking appts. (Good to have fellow geezers under our house-arrest still connected). I called asap and said I'd drive to first appt in their network and wife and I got 'shot' last Thursday!!!
We passed info on to our bubble, and received thanks with some feedback of crashing website, phone calls no longer accepted (can't vouch for that). However, all were able to make appointments on line eventually and have dates for this week.
Others fellow geezers are registering through the Riteaid website – accessible through the PA DOH map showing vaccination locations.
I repeat that geezer-grapevine was the communication method for ALL of us.
I must say, the efficiency, politeness and outright friendliness of the Geisinger staff in Danville was beyond laudatory. Jan 20 was a double banner day for us.
I received my first dose of Moderna on Jan 20. It was administered thru the Harris Co. (Houston, TX) Public Health system. It was a drive through process which took about 30 minutes including the post-shot wait. Post inoculation folks were directed to park in a designated area with staffers who regularly checked on those waiting the recommended 15 minutes. It was all very well run. It was well staffed. I never had to get out of my car. I received a card indicating I had received my first shot and notifying me of the date of my second shot, 2/17. Was told that I would be contacted regarding scheduling a time for the second shot in the same manner as my original appointment notification.
I got my appointment through the Harris Co. PH registration portal at https://vacstrac.hctx.net. (just in case there’s a Harris Co reader here.) It took keeping that site alive in a browser window and continuing to check regularly. I was given this site by a friend as it is not readily apparent, if at all, on the HCHS web site. I checked the portal Sunday, 1/17, and found it to be open, so I registered. I was given a choice of days/times the following week to schedule my appointment. An email & text confirming the appointment was sent to me with an accompanying QR code which I used at the site to gain access to the inoculation process.
I am over 65 and have a qualifying underlying medical condition (well under control) which put me in the 1B class here in TX. I registered for the vaccine at several other sites in Houston as well as several sites near my other home near Austin but have not heard from any of them.
I was just lucky to get the vaccine. Several friends have also had this same experience and received their vaccine through the Harris County Public Health system. They feel they were just lucky too. Grateful to HCPH.
The info I have seen reported is that there are 9 Million Texans in groups 1A & 1B. So far TX has been getting about 330,000 doses a week….do the math. It’s estimated that later groups won’t have access to the vaccine until May/June.
Central Kentucky
I just started CNA job working with COVID-19 patients and have not been able to get the vaccine yet. It is unclear when I will be able to. They email you the morning they have a vaccine ready for you. Apparently a bunch of non-healthcare folk signed up for vaccines through the hospital’s registration portal and have clogged up the system. To be fair, it is a google-able link and not clearly marked that it is not for the public. It all seems pretty unorganized.
My elderly parents in rural Missouri were first in line to get vaccinated at their doctor’s office. However, they only got on the list because my mom found out they could when she had to go in for an (unrelated) appointment. Otherwise they might not have known about it. When they showed up for their vaccination appointment, they were the only ones there. I don’t know if that is because it is hardcore Trump country and few people wanted to get it (the pandemic is widely considered a hoax in their community), or because the messaging was so poor that no one knew it was available.
I live in Austin, Texas, and have some friends who are healthcare workers who have already received the vaccine, but for me I’ll have to wait for the cattle call as I’m not in group 1a or 1b. The metropolitan area has a population of around 2 million but so far has received only a few thousand doses. Originally the plan was for these to be distributed by individual doctor’s offices and clinics, but apparently that plan is now moving to mass vaccination sites. I know when I called my doctor’s office to inquire about the vaccine, they said they already had over 1000 people on their list (this is a small family practice with three physicians) and estimated that it would take them 10-12 weeks to move through all of their patients who had already signed up. Of course, they hadn’t received any doses yet.
I do have one friend who is not in the eligible groups who has received the vaccine. Her sister is a nurse in Galveston, and she got a heads up about leftover doses from her, then drove three hours to wait there at the end of the day, and received one.
Arizona (non-Phoenix/Tucson metro)
1. Within 30 miles there is an ‘events’ center and there are also 2 outpatient clinics associated with the hospital. Next is about 100 miles in the Phoenix Metro area.
2. Yes I know how I am ‘supposed’ to be able to set up and appointment. But it has not proved possible yet as the sites (there are several of them) either say they are not taking appointments due to having no vaccine or the sites simply do not respond.
3. No it is not possible to get an appointment due to vaccine shortages. Those we know who made appointments before the sites shut down have dates which are over a month away in many cases. Some further then that so no one actually believes they are real dates…..
4. All the sites say they schedule both appointments but see 2 & 3 above. It is meaningless unless you can make an appointment.
5. NA
Arizona – Mesa/Scottsdale – one relative was vaccinated at work (schoolteacher) last week and another (also frontline) booked an online appointment for tomorrow. No appointments yet booked for second shot. Online registration requires very early sign-on and persistence as somewhat overwhelmed.
WA you have well-covered – not as well set up as AZ – we’re on the “we’ll email you when you are eligible” online registered list. Notably WA is pretty far down the list in terms of percentage of available vaccine administered – at about the same level as Ontario, Canada, which for some reason shut down all vaccination centers over the holidays! In any event, vaccine less available in Canada since coming from Europe* and US vaccines are domestically-produced.
*Canada’s only vaccine producer, Connaught labs (founded by Banting and Best, developers of insulin) was sold off to foreigners and closed by the same Mulroney conservatives who signed on to FTA and NAFTA. Traitorous scum that they are.
Update – British Columbia – vaccine rollout largely based on age, with highest priority to care- home inhabitants and staff. People 80+, for example, should be vaccinated by end of February.
Article has more info:
https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/01/22/BC-Vaccine-Rollout/
Here is South Carolina vaccination started Dec 14, 2020. SC is still in Phase 1A which lasts through the end of February, and allows for Healthcare workers, long term health facility staff and residents, hospital patients over age 65, all over age 70, and Covid 19 mission critical state and local employees to be vaccinated. When the vaccine first came out you did not need an appointment. In fact, recently the state health authority (DHEC) held a “double secret vaccine clinic” (as described by one attendee) at the state fairgrounds where over 600 people got vaccinated in one day. That was a “drive through” clinic. You hung your arm out the window, got the shot, then drove to a waiting area for 15 minutes to see if you had a reaction. The governor decided at first that vaccines would be administered via the hospital system and this caused many delays to begin with but apparently the bugs of that system have been ironed out, because they opened it up to multiple types of facilities like grocery stores, doc in the box, etc. The state went to an online appointment system but that did not work at first and ultimately crashed. It is supposedly fixed now and my 86 year old MIL managed to schedule an appointment this past weekend for this week at a doc in the box. Walk ins were being accepted at the beginning of this process (like the double secret clinic at the fairgrounds) but now they are running out of vaccine, so it is supposedly by appointment only. All of this info is based on published media stories and personal anecdotes re: my MIL. The whole process has been one misstep after another.
It seems to me that since this is a national crises the federal government should have taken a proactive response to getting people vaccinated. Apparently they did just the opposite. The initial goal was to develop a viable vaccine, Operation Warp Speed. Since this was the case there should have been planning on how the vaccine was going to get to people. It’s obvious this planning didn’t happen. Unfortunately a lot of valuable time has been lost. Another thing that bothers me is suddenly there seems to be a shortage of doses. There was a lot of press about countries buying up millions of doses before the vaccine was even approved. Since this is the case then companies bear some responsibility in not making sure what they promised could be delivered. This fiasco is an example for small government advocates to rethink the role of government in the US. Last but not least, voters need to evaluate who and why they vote for a candidate. They need to objectively evaluate the candidates running for public office. Voter incompetence allowed our country to look like a Banana Republic. Perhaps a comprehensive course in government should be mandatory for getting a high school diploma.
“Last but not least, voters need to evaluate who and why they vote for a candidate. They need to objectively evaluate the candidates running for public office. Voter incompetence allowed our country to look like a Banana Republic. Perhaps a comprehensive course in government should be mandatory for getting a high school diploma.”
I’m not convinced that’s really practical. Firstly, its not like we have any clue when voting for someone how they would act during a medical emergency, so I’m not sure how voters can ‘objectively evaluate the candidates running for public office’ in any reasonable way for non-political, non-economic crises. At least with those its more doable to gouge how a candidate stands. Second… Does anyone actually think voting for one party over the other would work either way? As far as I can tell, both D and R states seem like they’re all handling this with different levels of failure.
“Voter incompetence allowed our country to look like a Banana Republic.”
Hold on, federal and state failures at handling this medical crisis is the voters fault how, exactly? Again, its not like anyone was talking about any of this during the elections before this year, and it was barely even discussed in the most recent election. Blaming this on voters is nonsensical when there is no effective way of gauging how a politician would react in a situation like this. Now its the American peoples fault that the politicians that have been bought and paid for by American elites has no idea what they’re doing? Its a systemic problem that ‘smarter voting’ cannot possibly fix. The two choices at the general are essentially pre-selected from the same set of corporate brown nosers. Good candidates are barely able to get through primaries without money being shoveled at whoever their opponents are that won’t threaten corporate power.
“Perhaps a comprehensive course in government should be mandatory for getting a high school diploma.”
There are civics classes that teach the absolute basics. But honestly I’m not sure a harder course load for that would actually be effective. If the kids don’t give a damn, political science can be fairly difficult to teach. Hell, political science is difficult enough even for interested students.
Here in Seattle, spouse and I are in over 65 category. Was notified by UW Med Center, our health care provider, that we should make appointments via our e-portal. Logged on, nice set-up, go to ‘appointments,’ then to ‘CoVid19 Vaccine,’ …… warning sign, basically, don’t even bother because we’re so swamped, etc.
Daughter-in-law texted me Friday am, re: mass vaccine site for Sunday at Virginia Mason Hospital had slots. Immediately went to website, logged on, signed up, for myself and spouse, smooth as silk. Total silence. Sunday has come and gone.
Checked back on my UW e-portal last night …. same ‘don’t even bother, we’re swamped,’ notice.
Could be worse. We’re both in excellent health and are introverts. We have evolved nice little routines over the past year, involving lots of cooking and baking from scratch, daily walks, and e-mailing and long phone calls with far-flung friends and family. Our condo has never been cleaner! We’re privileged and coping.
Also WA here – a little further north of Seattle…in Snohomish county. Had no idea where to go (haven’t looked) so went to Snohomish County Health Dept website. As suspected, I don’t yet qualify as am not in the current 1A (health care, first responder, senior care facility worker) or 1b1 (over 65, or over 50 living with elderly) categories.
Health Dept site says ‘preliminary estimates’ are that ~25,600 doses administered of the 2 vaccines over the last 5 weeks, slightly more then half of that total in the last week. 2019 Snohomish county population is ~880,000 sooooo….I’m not anticipating anything for self anytime soon.
One side possibility: semi-sorta adopted daughter works in grocery store, she indicated their pharmacy has separate contracts & doses I believe, to be administered to store workers and _possibly_ their immediate households. Will keep tabs on that. (not that it
necessarily has anything to do with the policy but – they are Unionized workers yay UFCW 21!
My older brother in Oregon says he is getting an appointment very soon in Oregon – he is sole caregiver of my Dad, late 80’s, so he and Dad are likely to get vaccines this week.
Another Washingtonian here. I don’t qualify yet, not being old enough, not having any qualifying conditions, and being about as inessential as is possible. I know a fair number of people who have been vaccinated here with the Moderna shot, and two who have completed the course, both in health care. One I talked to this AM who is a nurse at the local hospital treating Covid patients said that almost every patient she has in the hospital for Covid right now comes from the rural North county region, and that the incidence of infection in any area of our county tracks very, very closely to the number of Trump signs you saw there. Any place where there were a lot of Trump signs, is currently just being absolutely hammered with the virus while the blue areas of the county have largely been spared. Overall picture locally is that there are more vacant ICU beds than there have been in about a month and a half.
I don’t expect to be vaccinated for at least another two or three months and won’t be surprised if it’s longer, which I’m fine with as I want to see that everyone at higher risk gets vaccinated before I do. What I’m really looking forward to is not getting vaccinated myself but the time when everyone who has wanted to be has been. That’ll feel like a turning point I think.
Hey Kurt – this came out today I think. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/how-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-in-seattle-king-county-and-washington-state/
Up until two months ago my mother-in-law was living with us. We could have moved up a few tiers if she still was, as they included multi-generational families?
Seattle here. I’m 68. I went through the https://www.doh.wa.gov/ website last night, got qualified and an appointment at a Safeway nearby for Friday at noon. That site has links to all the vaccine sites state and county wide. If one is booked up keep trying the others.
I’m pessimistically hopeful it’s gonna happen.
There’s probably a good reason why this is a bad idea, but I’m insufficiently caffeinated at this hour to perceive it.
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When I was lad, lo many decades ago, children used to be mass vaccinated in the schools. All the children, IIRC (and maybe I’m not RC-ing), were vaccinated the same day, assembly line style, by nurses or physicians.
In regions in which the schools are closed down, couldn’t the empty facilities be repurposed as vaccination clinics? There would be plenty of parking for patients, loads of empty classrooms for post-procedure rest and observation. Perhaps the observation could be assisted, when possible, by family members of the vaccinated individuals in order to “spread” the medical staff further.
Perhaps there aren’t enough actual qualified workers who could be redeployed into such a effort.
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It has been noted repeatedly in posts and comments that US seems to have lost capacity to do a lot of things that it used to be able to do.
I’m old enough to have suffered through both types of measles before the vaccines were available.
And when they were? Oh, man.
A nearby shopping center hosted a mass vaccination event called End Measles Sunday. Since this was Pennsylvania while the Blue Laws were still in effect, most if not all of the stores in the center were closed.
Don’t know where the vaccine came from or how heavily the government was involved, but you couldn’t have been living or breathing without knowing about End Measles Sunday.
The problem with repurposing the schools is that most don’t have ventilation that is safe enough for students and teachers–which is one reason so many of them are closed right now. I haven’t seen anything in these comments yet that says the health departments require a negative Covid test prior to receiving the vaccine, so how many of those people jammed into a school might be virus spreaders? We already know that the first mRNA shots have not prevented some people from contracting Covid shortly after receiving their first shots. Winter is just a very difficult time to attempt vaccinations for an airborne virus.
Here in Idaho, things are a mess. The state pushed vaccinations down to the Health District level where each health district is responsible, and my health district has pushed it down to the ‘healthcare provider” level. So you have to contact your doctor to find out when you can get your vaccination. There is no information about which healthcare providers have the vaccine on the State Covid website ( https://coronavirus.idaho.gov/ ) so if your provider isn’t part of the program, there appears to be no where to go except to call your local Health District. That ought to be fun! Our local Health District is so screwed up that they appointed Raul Labrador to be one of the people who makes decisions in a secret vote over much more qualified people. They said they thought he was more qualified because he was there to look out for business interests, as though the other two commissioners there weren’t.
They had put up a PrepMod site, which many people signed up with, and then took it down. So all those people who signed up there are now out of luck.
My healthcare provider sent me a form email this weekend, saying that I could now sign up for the vaccine, but that it would only be given on Saturdays, starting Feb 6th. So I will call them today and try to get an appointment – let’s see how that works.
So far, since December 14th, they have given out about 91,000 vaccines in this state. Idaho has a population of 1.8 million people – so it looks like it will be close to two years before they get everyone vaccinated.
Update: OK so I called my healthcare provider and went through their computerized menu to get an appointment and was told to leave a voice mail and they would call me back. No return calls for today! Guess I’ll try again tomorrow but this time I will not go through their computerized service and instead try to reach a real human.
Just in case you are not familiar with Raul, here he is at a town hall explaining how “nobody dies because they don’t have access to healthcare”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_1wUwzVuIs
Massachusetts, granted I’m not getting one until phase 3 but checked for my parents (70 and 74) because I haven’t seen anything about eligibility etc.
After searching, I sorted out that we are in phase 1,they’re not eligible until phase 2 and I have no idea how or where to get it administered. They are both hesitant and prefer to wait and see anyway. But it seems really hard to sort it out in this state.
In Colorado I got on the informal same day waitlist for the vaccine at my local safeway pharmacy on jan 18. It was a lucky fluke because I had read that Safeway pharm was a distribution site, called up, told to come in the next monday morning. Found out they were only giving shots on appointment basis but I could be wait listed. So they called me at 5 pm and said there were several no shows. I got the shot, along with two others, waited for ten minutes, then left. Safeway emailed me with the second shot appt that evening.
Colorado is distributing the vaccine through large medical practices, hospitals, Safeway, and recently in Denver at a drive through at Coors Field parking lot. Public health dept is also making appointments. People sign up at the websites then are contacted randomly by email and told to call and make an appointment. Word of mouth says when appointments open up they are gone for that week by mid morning. I had signed up everywhere and received several emails but had already got the shot.
A relative in Calif found out through word of mouth which Kaiser facility was still taking appts. Had to drive three hours each way.
From discussion on Next Door it appears people are frustrated and still pretty confused. There are no clear instructions in news media. You have to be proactive and go to the various medical websites, public health, to find out how to sign up for notification.
I’m an Illinois resident, eligible under several criteria as is my wife. We drove to a friend’s in Dallas, no covid touring and their daughter in Lubbock knew of availability. We registered online, drove 5 hrs over, got the Moderna shot, in about an hour. Shot administered in the civic center by an EMT. It was well run and totally happenstance that we got the shot. 2nd shot available to us on 2.21 but need to re-register. Not sure about the 16 hr drive from Chicago, so who knows??
For the general public, NJ is a confusing mess of a pre-registration system and multiple site registration websites.
There’s a state-wide information page (https://covid19.nj.gov/pages/vaccine), but actual registration is confusing. Pre-registration is state-wide, but it’s unclear how that leads to registration. I know people who have gotten the vaccine by directly registering at a provider. There are multiple provider registration websites – my local county lists registration for a super market chain, for an urgent care center, and for the county super-site which is outsourced to a local non-profit health system.
Basically, need to check multiple websites for an available appointment… reminds me too much of trying to get hot concert tickets, the new Playstation, or a new high-end graphics card.
NJ also just opened up a call center for people without computers: https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2021/01/nj-setting-up-call-center-to-sign-up-for-a-covid-vaccine-appointment.html
Here in Norway the vaccinations are administered by the municipalities and are no cost. We have been told that we will receive a notification when it our turn to be vaccinated and then we have to call to make an appointment. However there is severe shortage of vaccines. In my municipality, Lillestrøm, which is northeast of Oslo, the vaccinations are being done at a large municipal sports center. Checking Lillestrøms web page on vaccinations, I find that they are vaccinating people over 85 but the vaccinations have been halted due to lack of vaccines.
Very difficult finding vax in NYC for over-65s; getting an appointment in Manhattan is nearly impossible. We got wind of a walk-in vax site at a hospital in central Brooklyn on Jan. 27; traveled 90 minutes each way and got our first dose, but the clinic has since closed for lack of supply and there’s no word yet on when it might re-open. We have NEVER needed a national health care system more than NOW!
Western MA, they have set up a clinic at UMass. I’m not eligible until phase 3, although as I’m soon to be on parental leave (MA passed a paid leave act!) I may start chasing when we enter phase 2. We’re planning on another, and pregnant women are phase 2 in MA, do maybe we move that timeline up, too. We’re not just about 40 with no major allergies, so I’m ready for a jab ASAP.
1) Yes, through county website and a few chain pharmacies.
2) Yes, through websites of 1) above. The county website is flawed and takes luck and know-how to get through the process. We were rejected several times for the date that we selected. Instead of showing when vaccines are available you have to go through the whole application process and tell them a date you want. We were rejected several times because “no appointments” were available on the date we had chosen.
3) We got appointments (for Moderna) after 4 or 5 attempts.
4) Not possible to schedule a 2nd vaccination. I am not yet confident that we will get our first shot because of the contradictory date information on the website.
PS. My bro is a vet and he was able to set up both vaccine dates in one phone call.
From the Stanford Medicine patient website:
The first time I checked the site early last week there were no appointments available. The second time, a few days later, there were appointments available for the end January to receive the first dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. Today there are no appointments available until from the 11th to the end of March depending on location.
Being in a relatively safe situation (fingers and toes crossed), I’m inclined to wait a bit longer to see how those getting the mRNA vaccines fare. Also, I’m a bit less twitchy about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s more proven mode of action, and await their trial results. If this single-shot vaccine proves safe and effective, it will solve a lot of the supply, transportation, and storage problems we are currently experiencing.
In Los Angeles I am preparing to be ready when my tier is being vaccinated. Using the county link I passed on to older friends, they were able to get a shot within 48 hours. The second link was put together privately by IT professionals and updated by volunteers. It covers all of California.
http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/vaccine/index.htm
https://www.vaccinateca.com/
Thanks for the useful links.
My 83 yo dad in PA; no luck yet in scheduling through the state site that routes you to a Giant Eagle grocery store pharmacy. He gets far enough, but then the scheduling times out and he’s back to square one.
77yo mother in law in Detroit; was able to schedule first shot at a nearby hospital in about a week.
Both dad and MIL live quite close to the Ohio border. Ohio is generally much better managed, but they aren’t giving the vaccine to those w/o an Ohio address.
I’m in the NC Triangle. I have made an appt through the county website to get the first shot at the health dept. First spot they had was April 6. I’m 52yo with no comorbidities. I do work for a community center and do get preference as I have regular contact with at risk populations.
Here in Virginia my mother is eligible for the “phase B” vaccination. She completed an online form here
https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine/phase-by-health-district/
to be added to the list of people requesting vaccination. They are supposed to contact her when a vaccine becomes available.
I’m a 1b-qualified transportation worker living in Brooklyn.
1. It’s not entirely clear who is involved, but NY State and NYC are administering multiple sites: everything from a NYS site at Javits Center to NYCDOHMH administered sites at high schools, to hospitals, to non-profit community health centers and supposedly private urgent care clinics (CityMD etc). It’s not clear who is running what.
2. You log into a central NY State registry and fill out a form, and then once your eligibility was determined, you’re directed to a list of local vax sites based on ZIP. It’s a grab bag, and you are then directed to the provider’s site to register for an appoint.
3. I logged in at 8am on the first day of eligibility (1/11), I was able to make an appointment at Javits on 1/14. Coworkers and colleagues had varying results and wait times depending on the provider.
4. Yes. It’s the last thing you do on your way out, set up exactly 3 weeks later. I’m concerned by noise about NYC not having second doses, but officialdom keeps saying that if you have a second appointment, you should be good. Oddly, I have received the automated email from the state system confirming my second appointment at least 3 times since.
5. The Javits site was run by NYS with healthcare workers of some kind and the NY National Guard doing line management. The facility was huge, with a rat maze of airport-style belt barriers and stanchions, but I breezed past that with no line to speak of (“Go to the next soldier, he will tell you what to do…”). I was 10 minutes early and inoculated 1 minute after my official appointment time. They had us sit in folding chairs for 15-20 minutes of observation, then off to make the second appointment.
In and out in under 40 minutes. Systems are in place to scale for much larger capacities; it could easily have handled thousands and during my time it was maybe 100 in progress. Shame that it seems to have been throttled by doses. The colleagues I know who went there later reported a similar experience. After the last year, I’m very jaded about anything run by NY state or local government, but I was actually very impressed.
In New York City also. The signup procedure is a poorly designed bureaucratic/machine rat maze, but is probably better than rat mazes I have heard of elsewhere. I qualify, at age 81, as 1B. Thus far I have not been able to schedule anything anywhere, but unlike some of my peers, I don’t feel like spending several hours a day on the computer or telephone. Thus far only one of my friends (also 1B) has been able to get vaccinated. We are now told that the vaccines allocated for the first dose have run out. (Second-dose supplies are OK supposedly.) This is not surprising as the city, with an estimated 2 million qualified possible recipients, received just 250,000 doses, which have now run out.
I don’t know what the problems with producing and transporting the vaccine are, but the informational and access mechanisms are scandalously bad — worse than even the cheesiest commercial web sites, and reminiscent of the ACA signup disaster. This in a city crawling with programmers, web site designers, etc. It would not have been advanced rocket science to have at least that part of the system working efficiently months ago. Hopefully the system will eventually get straightened out, but if the bureaucratic resistance isn’t alleviated, many will go unvaccinated.
Hi All,
I worked at a POD run by NYC last week. It was well planned, by appointment, but still experienced its challenges — in particular now that older community residents qualify and are coming, some with disabilities and limited capacity to stand in line, we did not have supportive equipment (a wheelchair) to offer. We did our best to expedite the fragile, but it is not a perfect situation for them. It took a staff of roughly 40 to vaccinate about 800 people in one day. About 20 staff to vaccinate and the rest to do other roles. People coming in have to be spatially distanced, checked in and screened, routed so as not to bunch up too close, get the vaccine, be advised about 2nd dose appointments (not made for them at the time), be routed to a waiting area, etc. There were 2 EMS techs on stand-by in case of emergency, a few doctors, and a licensed social worker for emotional support, but there were no emergencies that day. (Thank goodness!) There were also police officers assigned for security. Well, the buildings were not designed for this, so there’s a lot of trying to make it work through various bottlenecks.
I’m afraid even with the planning and appointments, people had to stand in line for over an hour, most of the time outside in the cold. There was uncertainty about computer technology and about sufficient vaccine, and how many we could safely have inside. By end of day, I was really exhausted. But will return this week when NYC gets more vaccine.
If you are over 75 or caring for a senior of that age, it would be a good idea to bring a walker with seat and warm coat and gloves/hat if you’re in a northern state. Even in the waiting room it may be chilly b/c windows are open (purposely) for ventilation. Attending care givers were welcome! God bless these!
Here in central PA. I am not aware of any information given as to how to register for vaccination. Going to the PA website I found that there are two places in our area that are giving shots, a super market and a medical arts building. After attempting to apply I found that they were both booked for appointments for at least 3 to 4 months and are not accepting registrations. Their advice was to wait for 3 to 4 months and then try to apply. Hospitals in our area are only providing vaccines to medical personnel. I’m in the group 1 category based on age and health risks but have no idea when I can obtain the vaccine. Relying on drug stores and supermarket pharmacies is probably not an efficient way to vaccinate the public. If it takes months to give a small % of the population the first vaccine then how will people get the 2nd shot in a timely manner?
Here in eastern WA in our county there are two vaccine distribution locations (for a population of 50,000), one at the local Safeway supermarket (they have administered flu shots for years) and another location in the upper county. Not sure why they aren’t using any local clinics to administer them. My 93 yo mother is in line for her first shot but I need to drive her 30 miles through the snow to the upper county location as the Safeway here always seems to be out, due to demand I guess..
I should add that I applied for a vaccination online and was approved as I’m over 65, but since both myself and my wife have are very healthy I’m not in a hurry. If I could, I would prefer to get one of the second-generation vaccines which could be more effective and safer.
The solvhealth.com linked site that has vaccine locations that you posted above seems bogus. They do not list the locations in our county, the site says “coming soon” and they also list a bogus address.
I am a hairdresser in Minneapolis MN. Here are some things that I have heard:
“I am entered in a lottery because I am on the cusp of whether I get it or not. I need to check back every week and re enter the lottery. Add my name every week Just hoping that I make the cut off sooner rather than later.”
“I have a friend who is the same age and uses the same clinic/hospital as I do, and she got the shot last week. I think I should be able to get it too, but cant figure out how to get an appointment booked.”
from a health care professional- not a nurse or doctor though:
“I just go the shot yesterday as my work position put me near the top of the list. I and all of my coworkers are having an easy time getting this shot.”
I get a steady stream of statements like these. The most common sentiment from my clients is that they would like to get the shot and that it is very confusing figuring how and where to go. Confusion about how their insurance will help them or block them from getting what they want.
I think some people are confusing whether they are getting the “regular flu” shot or the “Covid” shot.
Orange County CA- first supersite at Disneyland, second opened this weekend at a university in South County, Appointments via a county-purchased appointment app that is behaving as you would expect (challenges getting through, married seniors receiving appointments weeks or months apart). A daily topic on Nextdoor social media.
Bonus note: county reported (by journalists at Voice of OC) to have spent $2 million to engage a PR firm to put a positive spin on county vaccination efforts.
Just some anecdotal info from the Irish lass who works in the 99% run by Filipino’s care home here in Northern Ireland.
All OK besides the heavy arm thing being worse for the 2nd Pfizer dose, except for herself & a fellow worker who were both flat out for 3 days feeling very week & faint when they attempted to stand. The common denominator between the two of them is that they are both asthmatic, but I suppose that it could be a coincidence although IMO it makes sense due to the respiratory factor.
All of the patients many of whom are lost in dementia were as fine as they can be.
Here in Oregon the Governor decided opening schools was more important than protecting oldsters so she ditched the CDC priority list and moved school workers (teachers and staff) ahead. This was done after first announcing all 1a and 1b would be eligible at once. My local county (Jackson) staged a big 3-day drive through event last week and many seniors went through even though they were not eligible yet. There has been a fair amount of ugliness on Facebook toward those who admitted jumping the queue.
I think one lesson is that trying to slice a broad category like 1b in that nuanced way does not work. I also think the school priority is an economic decision rather than a medical one. Thinking about how many seniors are care-givers for those students who will now be spreaders. Now my group (65-70) will not be eligible until March 7 assuming there is vaccine then.
The drive-through events include a staffed waiting area where you sit for 15min and honk your horn if you have a problem. I know folks who did not wait. But it seems to be a very efficient distribution method.
Efficient, relatively fast, 1 hour and 10 minutes total time in “line”. Southern Oregon drive thru vaccine site, managed by the State, County, *Local Fire Districts, Regional Public Health, Oregon National Guard, two local hospitals. Sign up: On line. After first vaccine, sign up on line for second injection. I signed up for the second injection quickly. (this injection is to be administered at either of the two local hospitals). I looked today and all spots were taken, of course. Something like 7,200 vaccines were given over 3 “long” days. I am both a licensed RN, and educator in the school district K – 12.
Update from San Antonio: My 75+ year old parents again tried to get an appointment this past week in the “Alamodome”–the local domed football stadium–after getting a text from a friend that the appointments were still open.
They both rushed to their respective computers and started hitting the website. My mother was lucky and got an appointment after entering in all her personal information. At the end of the process, though, she had to verify herself via a CAPCHA, by picking out photos of crosswalks. She told me she’s not good at CAPCHAs and unfortunately missed all 3 attempts, thereby knocking her OUT of getting an appointment.
My step-father was unable to get through at all.
They have heard numerous reports (one confirmed) of people lingering at the shot distribution places and getting lucky with a vaccine.
It’s a [bleeping] mess, and one not suited for 75+ year olds. My parents mainly just try to go through one website and have only really heard of a decent amount of local vaccines at the Alamodome. And San Antonio will not “save” their personal info and put them in the front of the line for the next round. Next time they get an urgent message, they will have to rush to their computers and re-start the process. I’m actually worried my mother will get hurt rushing to sign up for a vaccine!
Apparently, your parents’ experience is normal for San Antonio: https://sanantonioreport.org/the-covid-vaccine-most-who-want-it-cant-yet-get-it/
Here in Colorado (front range between Denver and Fort Collins) it seems that the bulk of the vaccines are being given by the large health care corps (HCC) through their affiliated hospitals. I don’t know what’s happening with the local pharmacy chains. My 91 y.o. mother got an email notification in late December that she was eligible to schedule a vaccination. She had no trouble following the provided link and setting up an appointment. From what I can tell she lucked into a very early appointment when UCHealth set up several clinics to do a test run of their vaccination clinic work / patient flow. It took her probably no more than 45 minutes including the 15 minute wait time after the shot. She was pleased and remarked that they even had snacks in the waiting area. She goes for her second dose tomorrow. They set up her second appointment at the time of the first for the same day, same time, same place four weeks later. Of course I don’t know how difficult it will be for people who are unable to make their second appointment to reschedule. That remains to be seen I think and could become a choke point.
UCHealth also did a mass vaccination yesterday at Coors Field in Denver for about 1,000 eligible people (older than 70). This was a drive through event and a dress rehearsal so to speak for a mass vaccination effort this coming weekend for 10,000, also at Coors Field.
Three of my mother’s friends, older than 70 and living independently, have either already had their first dose or are scheduled. On the other hand I have a friend who has been trying to schedule or at least get on a list since he heard that my mother had gotten the shot. He has not been successful in setting up a ‘patient portal’ with the HCC. He has called the county health department numerous times and has finally gotten on a list. The outpatient clinic where he goes for primary care told him that they have no idea when they will be offering the vaccine. The local hospital where he is a patient and that is not affiliated with any of the HCC has also told him that they have no idea when they could schedule him. And yet he has a friend who was able to get the shot at the local community clinic without a problem.
From Hawaii: Vaccines here are mostly being distributed by hospitals and health clinics. The state maintains a mostly up to date list here: https://hawaiicovid19.com/vaccination-registration/
Unfortunately, each hospital/clinic has its own system for registration. And dark-patterns make it hard to actually get on the registration page. First page is typically a wall of text (FAQs, warnings, etc) with the registration link buried amongst the many other links on the page.
I volunteer with one vaccination site, where we vaccinate around 1000-1200 people in a day (8am-5pm). People tend to arrive in surges. If you arrive at a slow time you can be heading home in less than 30 minutes. At peak times the through time is closer to 45 to 60 minutes. You are given a return date but no time when you leave. I haven’t heard any horror stories about 2nd doses yet, but it is still early.
So while getting into the system is a total nightmare. The actual vaccination process runs pretty smooth. Out of the over 1000 people who came through, only one elderly person arrived without a mask. We just gave her one. All lines, check-in and shots were given in an open air environment with good circulation (advantage of being in Hawaii).
Lastly, the stream of people without appointments who are not currently eligible seeking vaccines is relentless. One volunteer basically spends the whole day addressing these folks. And many of them end up hanging around even after they are told the waitlist for any extra doses is already full (of which there are many fewer these days now that the extra doses are now planned on).
Here in Canada the two vaccines which began delivering their products have stopped for two different reasons after just barely getting started delivery. We have just begun vaccinating in long-term care home residents and LTCH workers. I myself am 81 and do not think I will be getting vaccinated soon. Be glad you make your own vaccine because you cannot always depend on others.
I’m in BC. The vaccines are so far for long term care residents and staff, health care workers who deal with Covid patients and remote and isolated indigenous communities. Sometime in the next couple of months my over 80 mum should become eligible. August will be when they’re supposed to start making it available for people in my age range.
We’re still holding steady at about 500 cases per day here at least.
Small rural county in Colorado, within an hour of the Denver metro area. To my knowledge there isn’t a single health care provider located within the county limits, so all testing and vaccination is happening through the county public health department with assistance from neighboring larger, richer counties.
Vaccines are free, county is dependent on State of CO for supply so who knows when the general public will get their shots. Currently health care workers, first responders, and 70+ are eligible.
Policy explicitly prohibits second-home owners from getting their shot here, you must be a full time county resident to qualify.
Floridaman Vaxx Vexed II
Still vexed. Out of the blue Monday 11 AM, I got a text message from the Brevard County Health Department telling me they were immediately taking reservations via an amusement-ticket service called Eventbrite. I opened the site, at 11:01 and it said to wait until prompted to reserve a ticket (just like Publix grocery stores did. Then after 24 minutes; an overlay popped up: “Sorry, all reservations filled.” And there is Lucy defiantly holding the vaccine football up in the air as I lay there on the ground yet again.
Oh yes, and the county VA clinic where I receive treatment as a disabled veteran – not a peep.
Washington State
Looks like I’m heading for Spring/Summer in group 1B Tier 3. I’m mid-40s with bad asthma and high blood pressure (which I’m working on fixing). .
Also, did anyone ever do anything about that Seattle meet-up a year and a half or so ago? I think somebody got our email addresses, but I haven’t seen anything. Would love to meet up again.
California, Contra Costa County (east Bay area), my mom, over 75. She got appointment through online booking (took some clicking around that she might not have been able to manage herself) about 2 days ahead of time. Shot went smoothly (Moderna). After the shot there was an observation room for a 15 minute wait. My main discomfort was that the procedures were all indoors and ventilation was not the greatest. Some fans would have helped. There was no crowding or long waits or anything though. There *were* a few people outside without appointments hoping for spare doses, but I think none were dispensed.
I think the stuff about CA being last in utilization was because a large Moderna batch was temporarily withdrawn for testing or something, due to sevearl allergic reactions. The batch was later re-deployed and hopefully those stats will get better soon. I also know the HCW at my local clinic have been vaccinated.
Meanwhile Gruesome Newsome has lifted the stay at home order, which wasn’t doing much anyway, but still. He sees numbers getting smaller so decides it is ok to infect more people. They don’t seem to understand that the new and very contagious California variant is ramping up in exponential growth. Numbers will look good through early February but will suck again by March.
To answer remaining questions:
1) vaccination was at an impromptu clinic set up in buildings of a local county college. It worked fine. But I think they are closing that now that some mass vaccination centers are opening.
4) On receiving the first shot they said she could do the 2nd any time after Feb 18th (3 weeks after the 1st). It was not set up automatically. We signed up afterwards for 2nd shot on the same online system as the first: earliest we could get was March 1, but we will watch for something earlier.
5) Intake before getting the shot might have been 10 or 15 minutes, not too bad. Before reaching the intake we had a bit of confusion finding the right place. Getting the shot was fairly quick and then we had to wait around in another building for 15 minutes post-shot in case something happened, but nothing did. So we were at the site for maybe 30 minutes total. There were no significant lines though there was an understandable level of minor disorganization involved in doing anything new. I was a little bit bothered that the site staff were mostly wearing surgical masks rather than N95’s, but it occurred to me afterwards that they have probably all received vaccines already, which helps. All were wearing face shields.
Total time outside the house including all driving and making allowances for getting lost or stuck was around 2 hours, not bad. My mom likes getting outside so it was a nice afternoon excursion for her. She did suffer some expected side effects on the 2nd day after the shot, but felt fine before and after that. We took the side effects as meaning that the vaccine actually did something, i.e. a good thing.
Places in Michigan (mostly counties): https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98178_103214_104822—,00.html U of M Healthcare is also giving vaccinations.
I was offered an appointment for last Monday as was my wife. Since I have an autoimmune disorder, I was given an early visit at U of M Healthcare which set up inoculations in the Jack Roth Bldg on the side of the football stadium. I think my Hematologist got me in earlier.
U of M was well organized. Little waiting and the line was not long. They have the Pfizer doses. I was hoping for Moderna dose as the reaction on the second shot is less. We got our shot and spent 15 minutes in the facility (seated) to see if there was a reaction, We saw one young lady who went to the nurse as she was having a reaction. This all occurred in about 40 minutes and we left.
We are scheduled again for February 8th.
Texas, DFW area
1. Hospitals are giving the shots to healthcare workers. There are 70+ mass vaccination sites run by the county health departments for everyone else (my county has 2). I believe there are some other smaller sites at clinics and such.
2. Appointments are not directly available. Signup online to show you qualify (each site has its own signup website, not a central system. you could sign up for more than one system). The site then emails or texts you and tells you when to come. Very easy and works for at least 7 people i know personally. Not sure how difficult it is to change appointments if the one they give you is impossible.
3. The people who signed up in the first week already got appointments. I know 4 people who got shots already. The others i know got notified of their place in line (for example, uncle got a text saying he is #36000 in line). They are doing like 10000 shots a week in this county, so being in line means you will wait a few weeks at this rate.
4. Second shot automatically scheduled when you get your first shot. They are receiving 2nd shot shipments already (according to news).
5. The people i know who got a shot said it was drive through and very smooth. Took about 30min. Wait 15 min in a parking lot after shot.
Thoughts:
North texas is doing a pretty good job so far. It appears to me that the biggest problem we have is supply. They could do more shots if they could get more. The allotment process (how the state sends shots to the cities) seems pretty fair and population based. Dallas has had some trouble trying to make shots more easily available to underserved minorities, but the city council vetoed that. Earlier this month we were only vaccinating health workers and over 75, but they expanded it to over 65 and those with preexisting conditions. From what i can tell, they did this because of reports of hesitancy by health care workers. They had extra doses and no one to give them to, so the state opened up criteria. Now they have too much demand. Honestly too much demand is fine by me. Get shots in arms as fast as possible. I also support them NOT opening it further to under 65 yet. Not until we have more supply.
I’m in my 30s and was able to get the Pfizer vaccine because I work for a school district. However, my mom who is in her 70s has been unable to schedule an appointment. The county’s website is one of the worst in the state and does not allow anyone to even register for a waitlist nor does anyone answer the phone. I have looked into other counties but they only administer the vaccine to residents of that county. It’s ridiculous.
Excellent questions that should be asked of the citizenry at large.
1. Can’t say as I do. Some are being administered through hospitals, some through county clinics and probably a lot more is being administered at two-state clinics IN PHOENIX. The state clinics in Phoenix are the only ones where people 65 – 75 can request a vaccination “invitation”. I’m told the local hospitals will send an email telling you when you are eligible IF you sign up for their portals.
Well, er, ah, maybe. First, you go to the state website – https://podvaccine.azdhs.gov/, fill out some contact information including your ZIP code; and then you get to search for a vaccination site. You use a ZIP code to search but don’t make the mistake of using your real ZIP code. Use one close to one of the two clinics. (85715 is a real Tucson ZIP code. But for a slightly more rewarding search use 85305 or 85281.)
2. The search page comes up with the “Look no further than 50 miles away from the ZIP code supplied for the search. DEFINITELY a time sink. The people who actually got an ‘invitation’ seem proud of the persistence required to get it.
3. No appointment. I got as far as clicking “Confirm” before the browser page went into an infinite loop. The next morning after a few phone calls I learned I did NOT get the appointment. I couldn’t tell you how many times I tried to get my non-appointment.
4. Not applicable
5. Not applicable
Los Angeles: a work acquaintance passed along an app via which reservations could be made. Got 2, both of us got first Moderna shots today. Someone who called 24 hrs. after our inquiry was told no more doses available, check back often. We qualified via age.
VACCINATIONS IN NEW JERSEY you can register at:
https://covid19.nj.gov/pages/vaccine
State of New Jersey has vaccine locations listed by county at
https://covid19.nj.gov/pages/covid-19-vaccine-locations-for-eligible-recipients
I live in NJ. I registered at the first link. My husband and I qualified 1b. I found my county at the second link and called the phone#. Spoke with a person who said I’d get a call back. I got a call 2 days later & scheduled an appointment. Both of us got the first shot of Moderna on Friday 1/22. They scheduled us for the second shot. It took us less than a week to get the first shot.
I hope this helps!
I’ve read and heard nightmare stories here and everywhere. Don’t know why it was so easy for us although before I tried NJ I registered with all the NY hospitals where I have Drs with no luck.
I am concerned whether the supply runs out before I get my scheduled second shot
The system is totally broken. I realize we got very very lucky and feel grateful. Neither of us had any side effects except slightly sore arm. Hope others can benefit from this info.
Some anecdotes from NH. My dad (87) and two of his friends (80+) were able to sign up on the website on Friday. There were a few early hiccups but they got appointments for the last week in February. The vaccination clinics are being run by the national guard. If you can’t use the web site you’re [family blogged]. The call center is understaffed (shocker, I know) and no one can get through. This isn’t just a problem for less than tech savvy seniors. Internet access is spotty in a lot of places, even in wealthier areas.
My physical therapist had her first shot last week. She said the registration process for health care providers is an absolute mess, however the clinic itself ran very smoothly. She made her 2nd appointment at the time she received her first shot.
Cuyahoga County, Ohio — About two weeks ago, we received emails from the two major hospital systems in our area inviting us to “pre-register” for the vaccine if we qualified for Phase 1B of the vaccination program. Here were the stipulations for Phase 1B:
“Phase 1B is people who:
Are age 65 and older
Are an employee of a K-12 school
Have severe congenital, developmental or early-onset medical disorders such as: cerebral palsy; spinal bifida; congenital heart disease; type 1 diabetes; inherited metabolic disorders; severe neurologic disorders, including epilepsy; severe genetic disorders including Down syndrome, Fragile X, Prader-Willi Syndrome and Turner Syndrome; severe lung disease, including cystic fibrosis and severe asthma; sickle cell anemia; and alpha- and beta-thalassemia”
We qualify on the basis of age, and pre-registered. The online form was very simple and straightforward. It asked only for age, date of birth, nature of medical disorder if any, phone number and email address. It did NOT ask for any insurance information.
On Friday, Jan. 22, we received emails from University Hospitals confirming our pre-registration, and stating the following:
“The next step is that we will contact you via email to schedule your vaccination. This is a fluid process and your patience and flexibility while awaiting your scheduling will help us keep moving forward.”
According to a schedule established by the state of Ohio, our age cohort is supposed to be eligible for vaccination beginning the week of Feb. 1. It is all dependent on vaccine supply, however. We shall see!
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A number of friends and relatives who are 80 and older have gotten their first shots.
I am a security officer in a hospital and am considered by the state of Kansas a first responder. The hospital arranged for my department to get the first of our two shots through a local health clinic. Appointments were made online. Appointments were available only from 8 am to 4 pm Monday through Thursday, but you were allowed to leave work to go get the vaccine. We were paid an hour’s wages to get the shot.
At the clinic, I was not asked for any ID, and the paperwork took a couple of minutes. I was ushered into a room and given the shot, and then waited twelve minutes in the company of a nurse to see if there were any adverse reactions. In short, a very quick in-and-out procedure. I left with a card detailing the immunization. When I arrived at home, I made an appointment for the second shot online.
That was easy.
My wife, over 65 and a teacher, not so easy. She has registered online with both our city and county health departments but so far has received no response, even though over 65’s are now eligible. A friend in the adjoining state is in a similar situation. When she called the county to inquire when she could get a shot, she was told to call back in five days as they were only doing 80-year-olds and up.
My wife and I live in Kansas City, Missouri. I work in Kansas City, Kansas, where I got my shot through work. My friend mentioned above lives in Johnson County, Kansas, an affluent suburb. Of all the people I know, many of whom are over 65, I am the only one who has gotten a shot, with exception a a friend’s son, who is a RN in his early 30’s. Things are moving sluggishly.
If there were enough vaccines, I would be operating clinics 24/7 to head off the more infectious and deadly variants. I do not sense urgency in my area, except those who are awaiting the vaccine.
Good luck, Carla. I also am in Ohio, 78 years old and will be doing taxes for AARP, after Feb 12th, which maybe qulaifies me to be a frontline worker. I also, filled out the Ohio Dept of Health survey form before it was taken down. In small, rural Geauga County all the vaccine is going to the police, nursing homes, and prisons. No problems there.
However, my girfriend who is 80 and lives on the norther border of the county has an appointment tomorrow in Lake County.
According to “D’wayne”, our good-ol-boy Gov., 80-year-olds were scheduled for the week starting Jan18. And 75+-year-olds starting Jan 25. I know 60+year-olds who have appoinments in Feb. At least 20-30,000 shots are still reserved for nursing home staff (50% of whom refuse to be vaccinated).
I check the GiantEagle website twice a day, nothing there. I check The Health Department (supposed to be vaccinating) but no luck.
I call and go on-line to The Cleveland Clinic “My Chart” website daily; they say don’t call us, we’ll call you.
I expect to get vaccinated in late April, or perhaps May.
In this county I’m willing to bet at 100-to-1 odds that good Republicans like Judge Grendell have been vaccinated.