Covid Vaccine Distribution

[harllee]

Last I talked to my friend was Friday. Called this morning and she was able to schedule something yesterday, finally!

Maybe the backlog is finally thinning. You can kind of tell just by the action on this forum.

Great--see me just offering to help got your friends mom an appointment. I am a miracle worker.

 

[Gumby]

Great--see me just offering to help got your friends mom an appointment. I am a miracle worker.

As well as a downright good person.

 

[ivinsfan]

When you go for your first appt I would just tell them about the 2nd appt and have them cancel it for you. Not a "bad" confession to me

That's what I plan on doing. The bad part is I could have waited and gone on Wednesday without making those second appts. But I didn't want to wait

 

[EastWest Gal]

Pennsylvania's rollout is atrocious. I'm struggling to lose weight and my BMI is just over the high risk category, putting me in category 1A. Yet I can't find any place that has vaccine within a 30 mile radius. The hospitals only give the vaccine to their staff, and they've finished that.

I have volunteered to give vaccine, but the health department has yet to respond to my application to volunteer.

 

[ivinsfan]

Pennsylvania's rollout is atrocious. I'm struggling to lose weight and my BMI is just over the high risk category, putting me in category 1A. Yet I can't find any place that has vaccine within a 30 mile radius. The hospitals only give the vaccine to their staff, and they've finished that.

I have volunteered to give vaccine, but the health department has yet to respond to my application to volunteer.

Start emailing and calling pressuring them to open the pharmacy's ..that finally happened just this week in our state.

 

[Chuckanut]

That's what I plan on doing. The bad part is I could have waited and gone on Wednesday without making those second appts. But I didn't want to wait

Given that exogenous events can cancel a clinic at any time, I would not wait either.

I now know several people who have had their 2nd shot. The reason appears to be that state and local governments are prioritizing the 2nd shot people since they earlier used up a lot of the 'reserved' vaccine so as to more inject people with shot #1. Time to pay the piper.

 

[bks]

Got first shot yesterday and second will be Mar 6.
The email availability notice started 3weeks ago from my health care provider. I missed first attempt because it filled so quick. About a week later received another email got in online to schedule 1st shot.
They administer shots on Sat & Sun only at this point in time.
Their clinic is on west side of the Twin Cities and have deep cold storage.
Also manufacturer was Pfizer-BioNTech.

 

[Philliefan33]

I received my second dose of Moderna this morning. So far the only side effect is a sore arm, but from what I’ve heard there could be worse coming tonight. Our group appt included about 25% of the volunteer FD; hopefully there are no calls tonight or we might be a little short staffed.

DH (not a first responder) has had no luck getting an appointment for the vaccine, despite being over 65 and trying in each of the two counties we live in. He will continue to try.

 

[Nick12]

i could definitely see a blackmarket. Didnt someone post an article quoting one of the concierge docs saying his phone is ringing off the hook with people wanting the vaccine on the first possible day. People will pay. They have businesses to run, family members to protect, and vacationing to do. Its like anything else, pay more and get it faster. I would bet some "shrinkage" as they call it has already occurred. Money buys you choices and access. SOmeone coding a job as patient facing to move them to the front so they get vaccinated. SOmeone adding a family member to a staff list at a resthome. I could see this going in lots of directions. Sign me up as a volunteer firefighter if they are on the first string. etc...

It is called you help me I help you. I will call you when doses can be for you, just take care of me with a little gratuity.

 

[Dawg52]

I received my second dose of Moderna this morning. So far the only side effect is a sore arm, but from what I’ve heard there could be worse coming tonight. Our group appt included about 25% of the volunteer FD; hopefully there are no calls tonight or we might be a little short staffed.


.

I did well for the first 30 hours(2nd dose) then last night I felt a little chilled so took my temp and it was 100.2. Took 2 Advil PM's and slept like a baby. Perfectly fine today.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Today I was able to snag an appointment for my first shot tomorrow. I’ve been on the waiting list with our county’s only hospital system but hadn’t yet been contacted. With the new expansion to start utilizing pharmacies, a local small pharmacy chain obtained several thousand doses and has started offering vaccination clinics in several locations here in rural NW PA. They are doing 1000 vaccinations each clinic. They take registrations the day before via a website. You still need to qualify based on the state’s current prioritizations. This includes under age 64 if you have medical complications. I fit that category. The 1000 slots were filled in less than 10 minutes. I got in, but my good friend did not. She will try for the Tuesday clinic in another nearby town.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

There was a recent news story about "large" numbers of state/local health officials suddenly resigning from their positions. It cited the things we know about- too much work, not enough resources, citizens who are furious either because they can't get a shot, or who think the whole thing is a scamdemic and are furious about that.

Based on local experience, I suspect some of the resignations are because said officials realize their personal performance has been abysmal and they are resigning instead of waiting to be fired. Or lynched.

Despite the failures of the federal government, large numbers of state/local officials seem absolutely gobsmacked that a vaccine is suddenly available and they are expected to arrange for people to actually get vaccinated.

 

[Proteus126]

Joe-have your friend contact me (send me a PM and I will give you my email). I will be glad to help her find a vaccine for her mom (assuming her mom is an NC resident)

Harllee, thank you for helping me get my 80-yr-old mom an appointment for her 1st shot!

 

[JoeWras]

Harllee, thank you for helping me get my 80-yr-old mom an appointment for her 1st shot!

That's so cool. Way to go harllee!

Once I'm eligible, I'll try first on my own. If I fail, harllee can expect a PM from me.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I received my second dose of Moderna this morning. So far the only side effect is a sore arm, but from what I’ve heard there could be worse coming tonight. Our group appt included about 25% of the volunteer FD; hopefully there are no calls tonight or we might be a little short staffed.

DH (not a first responder) has had no luck getting an appointment for the vaccine, despite being over 65 and trying in each of the two counties we live in. He will continue to try.

PA has a very disorganized rollout. The DOH has a website with dots and links where the vaccine is "available". Every single pharmacy says they haven't gotten the vaccine yet. The hospital pharmacies reserve their vaccines for their employees (and eligible patients, I hope). Many of the pharmacy websites do not even have the phone number!
.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

PA has a very disorganized rollout. The DOH has a website with dots and links where the vaccine is "available". Every single pharmacy says they haven't gotten the vaccine yet. The hospital pharmacies reserve their vaccines for their employees (and eligible patients, I hope). Many of the pharmacy websites do not even have the phone number!
.

Depends where you are in PA. I've been very happy with what my county has been able to do. The only issue is the quantity of vaccine coming from the suppliers (controlled at the federal/state level).

I'm in Crawford County and we have 2 hospitals in the county (Meadville and Titusville) which are independently owned (not part of UPMC or Allegheny General Systems).

True, the hospitals did vaccinate their own staff first. But they were supposed to (front-line workers). Then they started working on the nursing homes (patients and employees) if they weren't already being covered by another state resource. We had our teachers getting shots by mid-January. Our non-nursing home elderly have been in process since the 3rd week of January. My 83 year old mother was contacted by our county's aging agency and set up with a vaccine appointment (done by the hospital system). She's had both her shots now.

However, when the Trump administration somewhat prematurely said anyone under 65 that had medical conditions were now eligible that messed up the system somewhat. There wasn't enough vaccine in circulation yet to do that. PCPs (most of whom are employees of the 2 hospitals) were asked to start submitting names for a waiting list. The hospital also put up a registration website to get on the waiting list. That quickly put the waiting list up to 6000 people and the hospital had to shut it down on February 1st until they could get caught up. They were only averaging about 3500 shots per week (still limited by the supply). But they are working as hard as they can. I took my mother to get both her shots and the number of people working the process was much larger than I expected and it was very efficiently run. All hospital employees and some volunteers.

This last week, the new program that starts putting more vaccine into the hands of retail pharmacies has started to kick in. A local pharmacy chain (not one of the major players) was allocated 10,000 doses and they have been holding 1000-a-day clinics around our county and Mercer County. It is first-come-first-serve from a different web site registration. I was lucky enough to get an appointment in yesterday's lottery and have my appointment later this afternoon. Our hospital system is still supplying nurses to assist with these clinics and coordinated the location even though the vaccine allocation is coming from the pharmacy chain.

As is the issue nationwide, those who are not computer savvy or able to stay on top of all the possible options are likely to be last to be vaccinated. We do still have some > 65 who have not been vaccinated. But many, many have been. Unfortunately, if they don't have someone working on their behalf, they may not be in the system.

About 13% of our county population has been populated. And this is a county where there is likely to be a fairly large population that will choose to not be vaccinated, I'm guessing.

 

[Philliefan33]

PA has a very disorganized rollout. The DOH has a website with dots and links where the vaccine is "available". Every single pharmacy says they haven't gotten the vaccine yet. The hospital pharmacies reserve their vaccines for their employees (and eligible patients, I hope). Many of the pharmacy websites do not even have the phone number!

.

From our experience it seems like the vaccine is being distributed throughput the state with no regard to relative population. In sparsely populated Carbon county, where our lake house is located and I was able to get vaccinated, they are moving quickly through the list. In Bucks County, with a much higher population, they just recently finished the healthcare professionals. It’s as if someone decided that each county gets “X” vaccines, even though Bucks County has roughly ten times the population of Carbon.

 

[harllee]

Harllee, thank you for helping me get my 80-yr-old mom an appointment for her 1st shot!

Hope all goes well with your mom's shot. Glad to help.

 

[harllee]

That's so cool. Way to go harllee!

Once I'm eligible, I'll try first on my own. If I fail, harllee can expect a PM from me.

Joe--Just let me know, I will be glad to help. I "think" I have figured out the NC vaccine "system". Anyone else on this forum who is over 65 (or has family members over 65) and lives in NC and needs help to get a first vaccine, send me a PM and I will try to help. My new hobby--vaccine finder!

 

[Proteus126]

Hope all goes well with your mom's shot. Glad to help.

Thanks, Harllee!


FYI - Rowan County has filled up today's appointments. The window is NOW open for Thursday's (Feb-18) first-dose appointments. Looks like they have about 300 appointment slots currently available, from 0800 to 1200 on Thursday.


According to my mom, today's session is Rowan County's first session using an appointment system, and that previously they were using that same location (West End Plaza, in Salisbury) in a first-come-first-served mode. At least, I believe that is what she read online.

 

[mpeirce]

For all the miss-steps, this article explains why the US vaccine effort is actually doing an amazing job.

The U.S.' vaccine rollout is world-beating

...it’s time to acknowledge a fact that few people seem to be acknowledging: The U.S. vaccine rollout, for all its faults, is ahead of almost every other country in the entire world.

The U.S. is primarily relying on two mRNA vaccines, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine. Both of these have shown very high efficacy against standard COVID variants in large-scale trials — 95% for Pfizer and 94% for Moderna. In Israel, the Pfizer vaccine is showing a 94% reduction of symptomatic disease in the population, despite the fact that the South Africa variant is spreading in the country.

No other vaccine in the world has so clearly and consistently shown such high efficacy. Novavax, also an American company, is the closest at 89%. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes in at 66%.

 

[JoeWras]

It is anecdotal, but in my circle of friends (and even ya'll), it seems like the barriers have finally been stomped down. I was just on a ROMEO meeting and everyone has had an appt., 1 or 2 shots. Most already just finished 2. I'm also reading about more open events in NC.

Now I know everyone on here who is eligible hasn't gotten one, so I understand it isn't 100%. It is just an observation that things are moving along. Gives hope to us babies.

 

[harllee]

Joe, on 2/24 here in NC the vaccines open for teachers and school staff so that it is a big bunch of extra people. So if you know anyone 65 and over they should try to get their first shot before 2/24. I am glad teachers will be able to get their shots soon in NC

 

[Sojourner]

For those living in Georgia, has anyone been able to schedule a vaccination appt at Publix, Kroger, or Walmart using their websites or mobile apps? I've been trying to track down an open appt slot for an older, non-tech savvy relative, and all three websites consistently show "no available appointments". I've been checking them multiple times each day, at random times, for about a week now.

Does the Walmart site (for example) open up new appointment slots at a particular time every day... say, midnight, or 5am? Just knowing when or how often to check them would be helpful.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

So I'm sitting back home an hour after getting my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. No issues so far.

I live in a rural county of NW PA (population 85,000). As I've said in posts above, our local hospital has been the only source of vaccines up to this point, but doing a pretty good job at it so far by getting about 13% of the county at least their first shot so far.

Today's clinic was run by a local, small pharmacy chain (10 or 12 retail stores, if I'm not mistaken) that had obtained a quantity (I think 10,000 doses) as part of the current administration's rollout to the pharmacies to start getting them into the process. Appointments were first-come-first-serve via a website registration that filled up the 1000 slots for today in 7 minutes. The clinic was staffed by pharmacy employees doing the paperwork portion and then the local hospital supplied nurses to administer the actual shot.

My appointment was in the last group of the day (12:15-12:30). I was processed and done within about 10 minutes. Very efficient. The local nurse said to me somewhat under her breath... "I'm glad to finally see someone from our own town getting a shot. Almost everyone here today has been coming from down near Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh is about 2 hours away. She was slightly irritated that the pharmacy did an open lottery instead of just taking the first 1000 off the already-existing waiting list from the local hospital. There are thousands more on that list still. But, as she said, "At least I'm helping someone."

When I went into the waiting room to do my 15 minutes of time to make sure I had no side effects, it was jam packed with people. I assumed most were people waiting for their time before they could leave. While waiting, I overheard surrounding conversations. The majority of people in the waiting room were "on standby" for no-shows or extra vaccine doses. Again, the 2 couples nearest me indicated they had driven the 2 hours up from Pittsburgh just in case they could get vaccinated.

I'm not really opposed to that, but I don't think they should have crammed them into the waiting room the way they did. We certainly weren't socially distanced fully. We were more like 3ft away from each other and people were moving around constantly within closer distances. So in that sense, I think the pharmacy didn't do the administration process as well as I would have liked. Part of the problem is that they are taking their 1000-doses-a-day clinic to a new location every day. So they are experimenting with the layout of the location anew every day. If people are going to drive 2 hours anyway, they should just hire a central location and figure out a better system for doing it.

Anyway... that's just my observations for the day. I'm happy to have my first shot and I have a date for my second. I don't yet know the location or appointment time, but I have a date. I hope they have a system to ensure the second dose takes place on time.