Covid Vaccine Distribution

[Leo1277]

Or even just in a regular wallet, for which it should be credit card sized. In this large format it's just very awkward. Was thinking to scan it, print it out credit card sized, and then laminate... But I am not sure they would accept it in this format. Any ideas?

One thing I found out is that the card is in the format of a standard 4x3 ID badge, and there are various holders for them, starting with the simple conference IDs you put around your neck. Also, if you fold it in half, it is slightly smaller than a credit card and can be stored in one of these credit card protection sleeves.

 

[Ronstar]

I scanned my card and have it as a photo on my phone. But I still need a negative Covid test to get into Alaska.

 

[Ready]

Are states restricting vaccines to people who reside in that state? Or can someone from California drive to Arizona to get a shot if they are eligible in Arizona but not in California?

 

[braumeister]

Are states restricting vaccines to people who reside in that state? Or can someone from California drive to Arizona to get a shot if they are eligible in Arizona but not in California?

It varies all over the map (so to speak). Around here, near the border between three different states, the rules vary even from county to county. You have to research every location carefully.

 

[harllee]

Are states restricting vaccines to people who reside in that state? Or can someone from California drive to Arizona to get a shot if they are eligible in Arizona but not in California?

Don't know about Cal and Arizona but out of state residents can come to NC and get vaccinated. I know Florida residents who have come here to NC to get the vaccine.

 

[Ready]

It just seems wrong that we don’t have a federal policy guiding this. Some states are still 65+ while others are wide open.

 

[SecondCor521]

Are states restricting vaccines to people who reside in that state? Or can someone from California drive to Arizona to get a shot if they are eligible in Arizona but not in California?

Idaho is currently restricting them to people who live in Idaho or work in Idaho.

 

[RetireBy90]

It just seems wrong that we don’t have a federal policy guiding this. Some states are still 65+ while others are wide open.

Each state has a different demographic. Some have more people over 65 and some have more with conditions. Why would you group all the same ? You would have people under 65 waiting while the state with older population is still doing that demo.

 

[Ready]

Each state has a different demographic. Some have more people over 65 and some have more with conditions. Why would you group all the same ? You would have people under 65 waiting while the state with older population is still doing that demo.

Is that really what is happening or do some states just have more people who don’t want to get the shot?

 

[RetireBy90]

I would suspect that demographics are causing the differences and most older would get the jab, but I have no way to know either way. Probably some of both. Either way, if I read cdc vaccination site correctly, about 5 states have vaccinated 45% of population and 6 have vaccinated 30%. No reason for gumt to require the 5 states to stand down till the others catch up is there ?

 

[Ready]

Or just provide more supply to the states that still don’t have enough to vaccinate anyone under 65.

 

[Aerides]

Or just provide more supply to the states that still don’t have enough to vaccinate anyone under 65.

But that assumes the problem is supply in those states. And it's not that simple in most places, not anymore. The race to "everyone, step right up" is underway, and all states will be wide open in a matter of weeks. If FL and AZ are moving past the older populations, the rest should be able to, as FL/AZ typically have a greater portion on the population in the retiree+ ages.

The time for a federal plan, if it was ever an option, was long, long ago, and that ship has sailed, so here we are.

 

[audreyh1]

Got on at midnight last night at CVS and was able to get an appointment for myself for this Sunday. Learned this trick from the Facebook group in my area that SimpleGirl recommended. The best part is it only a 15 minute drive from my house. I was expecting to drive over an hour to get my shot, so I am very pleased. I tried a couple of times at 7AM for Walgeens (when they release their daily appointments) and they were gone in the first 5 minutes. Had to work late last night and luckily finished up at 11pm, so decided to stay up and see what CVS had to offer at midnight and first try I got lucky.

Anyone looking for shots should try the CVS site at midnight east coast time, that's when they release appointments.

OK, I’ll keep checking it out.

I’ve been having issues with CVS that is making it almost impossible to sign up. First By 4:00am to around 6:00am EDT you can see a list of cities with available appointments, but when you try to schedule, they put up a page that says they are adding appointments but to come back later. After 6am EDT they put up a different page that that says their site is experiencing heavy traffic and to wait. By the time they let you bring up the scheduler after 6:30am, almost all those open cities are already fully booked. Beyond frustrating!

 

[Amethyst]

This is similar to what I have experienced when trying to make appointments online. For weeks, the county health dept site would open at a set time and, for me, would simply freeze. Or it would say "server error." Five minutes later, it let me in, but all appointments were full. Who the heck was getting those appointments?

Then I tried pharmacies and grocery stores - and got results similar to yours.

However, when the county finally went (after a public outcry!) to an automated waitlist, we were contacted fairly quickly for husband's appointment. And once the over-60 rule went into effect, and I got on that waitlist, the automated invitation came through in a week or so.

There is a lesson to be learned. Don't make people compete for appointments. Just let them sign up, and either first-come-first-served, or oldest birthday first.

OK, I’ll keep checking it out.

I’ve been having issues with CVS that is making it almost impossible to sign up. First By 4:00am to around 6:00am EDT you can see a list of cities with available appointments, but when you try to schedule, they put up a page that says they are adding appointments but to come back later. After 6am EDT they put up a different page that that says their site is experiencing heavy traffic and to wait. By the time they let you bring up the scheduler after 6:30am, almost all those open cities are already fully booked. Beyond frustrating!

 

[Ready]

These are all examples of reasons why I don’t like the states individually managing their vaccinations. If you live in a state that doesn’t have its act together you may find it harder to find a shot appointment than to find a PlayStation 5. It shouldn’t be this way.

 

[simple girl]

OK, I’ll keep checking it out.

I’ve been having issues with CVS that is making it almost impossible to sign up. First By 4:00am to around 6:00am EDT you can see a list of cities with available appointments, but when you try to schedule, they put up a page that says they are adding appointments but to come back later. After 6am EDT they put up a different page that that says their site is experiencing heavy traffic and to wait. By the time they let you bring up the scheduler after 6:30am, almost all those open cities are already fully booked. Beyond frustrating!

I have not tried this, but I have read others on FB groups use this strategy successfully. Sign in through a different state (many use Alabama, I guess because it's the first one?), but then once you are into the system they ask you where you want to get your vaccine. Then you can choose your state.

I don't know if this is a work around for the problem you are having or not - but worth a try?

The other thing I have heard is when you get that adding appts page or heavy traffic page you keep going back to the prior page and try to book over and over again, opening multiple tabs. Sometimes you get through?

Sorry, can't say I have experience with this part, just what I've heard others say works for the CVS scheduler. Stressful when vaccine is scarce. Hope things improve there soon!

 

[explanade]

Californians who can't yet qualify to get vaccines will be happy to know that NBA players are jumping the line.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...xpected-get-covid-19-vaccine-week-sources-say

Governor had said people younger than 65 without certain conditions may have to wait until May.

 

[ABQ2015]

This is similar to what I have experienced when trying to make appointments online. For weeks, the county health dept site would open at a set time and, for me, would simply freeze. Or it would say "server error." Five minutes later, it let me in, but all appointments were full. Who the heck was getting those appointments?

Then I tried pharmacies and grocery stores - and got results similar to yours.

However, when the county finally went (after a public outcry!) to an automated waitlist, we were contacted fairly quickly for husband's appointment. And once the over-60 rule went into effect, and I got on that waitlist, the automated invitation came through in a week or so.

There is a lesson to be learned. Don't make people compete for appointments. Just let them sign up, and either first-come-first-served, or oldest birthday first.

This is similar to the frustration with my state's centralized registration system. The state randomly selects registered, eligible persons as appointments become available in their area. To snag the appointment you need to be tethered to your cell phone to receive a text message event code, which can come at any time of day, and then quickly log on to select an appointment. There are more persons notified than appointments available so many people, especially seniors, receive a response that the event is full even if they log on within five minutes.

The state insists that this is the fairest process but how is this more fair than a waiting list as long as the list prioritizes according to eligibility? After eleven weeks, we finally have 50% of the 75+ age group fully vaccinated and our state is supposed to be leading in vaccination rate.

 

[Amethyst]

With the waitlist, you do need to be tethered to something, preferably the smartphone. I put in a home phone, smartphone (for SMS) and email address. The system seems to prefer SMS for some odd reason, and never sends an email, although it did call our home phone...once. You have to accept the offered date/time within 4 hours, or lose your turn.

Once you accept, the system sends a text to confirm the appointment. If needed (which it hasn't been), you can present the text at the vaccination site.

One problem for us, since we only have one smartphone and one email address between us (which is not uncommon with older folks), is that the system is set up to reject "duplicate" applications - and it does this by rejecting "duplicate" phone numbers and email addresses! I solved this problem by deleting husband's account once he'd gotten shot #2.

This is similar to the frustration with my state's centralized registration system. The state randomly selects registered, eligible persons as appointments become available in their area. To snag the appointment you need to be tethered to your cell phone to receive a text message event code, which can come at any time of day, and then quickly log on to select an appointment. There are more persons notified than appointments available so many people, especially seniors, receive a response that the event is full even if they log on within five minutes.

The state insists that this is the fairest process but how is this more fair than a waiting list as long as the list prioritizes according to eligibility? After eleven weeks, we finally have 50% of the 75+ age group fully vaccinated and our state is supposed to be leading in vaccination rate.

 

[ABQ2015]

With the waitlist, you do need to be tethered to something, preferably the smartphone. I put in a home phone, smartphone (for SMS) and email address. The system seems to prefer SMS for some odd reason, and never sends an email, although it did call our home phone...once. You have to accept the offered date/time within 4 hours, or lose your turn.

True, but 4 hours is a reasonable amount of time to respond while a few minutes is not, particularly for seniors. Those who miss the text or do not log on in time are put back in the system and receive some priority for the next available appointment. But some have been texted two or three times without luck. I think the state might be targeting appointments at pharmacies for 75+ or for baby boomers with underlying conditions as opposed to appointments at mass vaccination sites. Immobility concerns. Since there are fewer pharmacy appointments, those go fast.

I don't think our system allowed both a cell phone and a landline phone for notifications. That would have been helpful since I can more easily hear the phone ringing than a text beep. But if they are not going to call or only call once, it doesn't matter.

 

[jfn111]

Lucky you. When we went last week to a Walmart with an appointment, we had to stand in line for an hour inside the store, and then wait another 15 min post shot in chairs just next to that line. Social distancing in the line was very questionable, and some of the masks worn were very creative to say it positively. I am pretty sure that since Covid started, this was the situation of highest risk for me to contract it. I didn't like it much...

Yes, we were lucky. The M Health Fairview staff had it well organized. There was little social distancing, which surprised me, but otherwise no complaints.

 

[lauradrops]

As of yesterday, anyone 50 and over can get the vaccine in NY. I was able to make an appointment for today and was in and out in about 20 minutes. I was shocked how quickly it went.

 

[dixonge]

Are states restricting vaccines to people who reside in that state? Or can someone from California drive to Arizona to get a shot if they are eligible in Arizona but not in California?

We just moved our domicile from TX to FL in February. We got our first shots in South Carolina. We can get the next shots here[-] or any other state[/-], just have to register for them through VAMS (CDC).



Huh. So only 9 states are using VAMS? wtf? In Aiken, SC we registered ahead of time but they were taking walk-ins. Very thorough system they had worked out. Moved a lot of people through very smoothly.

 

[Poopycat]

I’m so excited: my vaccine appointment is Friday morning!!!

I had registered with the city as well as some local health organizations, waiting for my turn. I thought I’d have to wait until June or July before I was able to get the vaccine; I’m not in a high priority group. But I received an email today saying that there is a mass vaccine event on Friday and I could register!

I’m still shocked. It’s for the J&J vaccine. I guess I was hoping for Moderna or Pfizer but after doing more reading it sounds like J&J is highly effective at keeping people from hospitalizations and death. And I’ll be done in one shot.

Hurry up and get here, Friday!

 

[stepford]

Many folks here in CA have complained about having trouble making their appointment for a 2nd Moderna or Pfizer vaccine dose. In many cases in the same session when the first dose is given the vaccine provider will schedule the second dose the appropriate 21/28 days later. The difficulties come when, for whatever reason, this didn't happen and folks need to hunt around for a 2nd dose. The vaccine appointment system is geared for providing 1st dose appointments while the 2nd dose appointment system is much flakier.

This was the case of my wife. Her 2nd dose was supposed to be this week, but the county only releases first dose appointments at the designated time (7AM Monday mornings). To get a second dose appointment one must hover around and get lucky waiting for the 2nd dose slots to drop. I did so and got an appointment for my wife exactly 21 days after her first Pfizer shot, so all is good there. A slightly different problem now awaits me.

My vaccine provider did make a 2nd dose appointment for me at the time of my first shot. The problem is mine is a bit too early: 24 days later rather than the 28 required for Moderna. I checked with my doctor and was told that if at all possible I should try to reschedule for 28 days or more past the first dose - even though 4 days early is (just barely) within the "vaccine grace period". So I now have the choice of taking my possibly too early shot or playing the 2nd shot scheduling lottery again. I suspect I'll be able to schedule my 2nd dose properly just as I did my wife's, but I hate to surrender to the crap shoot again.

I do think I'll heed my doctor's advice, but I wonder what others here may have heard about reducing the interval between the tow doses and the 4 day grace period for an early 2nd dose.