Well, it ain't goin' too good here in the DFW area. Maybe we need a Pollyanna to make a big personal appearance here and correct all our attitudes.
I think it comes down to a "we don't wanna do". My county, far from a poor $ one, has stayed out of vaccine anything from what I can tell. They finally updated the county website to put a few words and links on the vaccines... to other websites. This is the same county that dragged their feet on mail-in voting, even for 65 and over that has been legitimate for years. Just don't wanna do. Go to pharmacies, they'll take care of it.
The state website has a map, that seems to be provided by Fish and Wildlife, that shows vaccine providers. Rarely updated. The few pharmacies listed in the area won't answer their phones. Pharmacies all over have stopped answering their phones. They say they can't service their existing customers due to constant phone traffic. I see their point, it's not their fault. There is NO SYSTEM of vaccine distribution to the actual arms. Saw that ONE small pharmacy in Dallas proper has started a registration system. One. The pharmacy chains have "coming soon" blurbs on their websites, but no info. Our Phase 1b has started, yet there is no system. It will be pandemonium. One pharmacy chain, we can give them some personal info online, and they will "alert us" to vaccine news. Not registration for appointments.
In my state, in my area, I think "don't wanna do" has prevailed instead of planning. I don't see how pharmacies are going to suddenly pull a rabbit out of the hat. Their stores lack the parking, facilities, and staff needed for rapid large-scale vaccinations, other than one vac every 10 minutes or so. Even if they did it 8 AM to 8 PM seven days a week, that's only 72 vaccinations a day per pharmacy! Chicken feed! Remember, these pharmacies have plenty of non-Covid-19 business to attend to. They ain't sittin' around with nothing to do. They were busy BEFORE Covid-19.
I think Pharmacies DO need to be up and running real soon (like now!) with actual reservation systems. But pharmacies will not be the savior alone. It's going to take many many vaccine administration sites to make a dent in it. Maybe have to set up third-world type stands on street corners. I don't see our older folks standing out in lines, in cold rains, many out overnight, to get a chance at maybe getting a vaccine at some sports arena or something like that before they run out of vac for that day. It needs to be a very distributed system to get people close to where they live. If they can make it portable, during the week there are all sorts of churches that have large parking lots and good-size buildings that are empty. And on Saturdays and Sundays, public schools are empty and have the same.
But we need a registration/reservation system. And planning, which should have happened a while ago. There is a doctor of infectious diseases at Baylor (the university), that has said it's like 20 million boxes of IKEA furniture were dropped off, and only now is it realized that assembly is required...
Thanks for reading my rant. There is no substitute for well-shared, not last-minute planning, to iron out kinks/major screwups that one small group may not catch, but others can see. As a consultant said to me in the early 1980s, "It's the worriers like us that make things work out!".
